Saint John's travels to face Augsburg for another crucial match at 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 19, at Edor Nelson Field in Minneapolis. – Live Stats/Live Video
Preview Video:
-Head coach John Haws (0:40)
A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's (5-6-3, 3-2-2 MIAC) enters Saturday night's match one point behind Augsburg in the MIAC standings with three matches remaining. The Johnnies and St. Thomas battled to a 2-2 tie this past Wednesday (Oct. 16) in Collegeville. Nick Rapisarda gave UST a quick 1-0 lead with an unassisted goal, his 10th of the season, 4:18 into the match. Sophomore Alex Niederloh (Maple Grove, Minn.) looked to have tied the match 16 minutes later but the goal was disallowed due to an offside call. Freshman Nick Van Marter (Portland, Ore./Cleveland) did, however, tie the match with his first collegiate goal in the 40th minute (39:34). Senior Michael Coborn (St. Cloud, Minn./Cathedral) sent a corner kick to junior Zane Heinselman (River Falls, Wis.), who sent a perfect pass to the head of Van Marter on the far post. Coborn gave SJU a 2-1 lead with his sixth goal of the season, 26th of his career, 3:31 into the second half. Senior Matt Carson (Waconia, Minn.) sprinted up the right side, gained the corner and sent a cross pass to Coborn who was all alone in front. Ryan Bernhardt tied the match at 2-2 for the Tommies in the 78th minute (77:17). Sophomore Kevin Lebahn (New Hope, Minn./Benilde-St. Margaret's) made eight saves in the tie for SJU, which out-shot UST 20-18 (12-10 on net) in the match. The Johnnies held a 19-10 (11-6 on net) shot advantage in the match's final 74 minutes and posted 10 corner kicks to the Tommies' one.
KNOCKING ON THE DOOR: Coborn now has 85 points (26g/33a) in 66 career matches and needs two points to pass Tyler Bosch (86 pts., 2001-04) for fourth and tie Jim Phelps (87 pts., 1979-81) for third on SJU's all-time list.
LEADING THE MIAC: Lebahn leads all MIAC goalkeepers (all games) with 69 saves and is second to Gustavus' Brett Ylonen with a .812 save percentage (among keepers with 900 minutes or more in net).
A LOOK AT THE AUGGIES: Augsburg (9-4-1, 4-2-0 MIAC) begins a difficult final stretch by hosting the Johnnies Saturday night. After the match, AUG travels to Gustavus Adolphus (Oct. 26) and St. Olaf (Oct. 29) before ending the regular season at home against St. Thomas Nov. 2. The Auggies, like SJU, defeated Hamline on Oct. 16. Senior Lekpea Kordah leads the team with 12 points (5g/2a), followed closely by freshman Ben Henry with 11 (5g/1a). Senior Clayton Lynch has a 7-4-1 record with a 1.25 GAA and a .706 save percentage (36 saves).
THE LAST MEETING: Augsburg tallied the game-winning goal with 2:36 left in regulation to defeat SJU 2-1 last Sept. 26 (2012) in Collegeville. SJU caught a bad bounce early and found itself down 1-0 with 6:54 taken off the clock. The Auggies' Danny Osip blooped a free kick from 40 yards out and Lebahn nearly came out of the box to catch it. The ball, however, bounced off Lebahn's hands and deflected behind him, directly to a wide open Grant Griffin. The Johnnies tied it at 1-1 with a goal from junior David Wee (Savage, Minn./Prior Lake), his fourth of the season. Classmate Ian Scudder (Sherwood, Ore.) dribbled through the heart of a physical Augsburg defense and unleashed a shot that was blocked, but the deflection went directly to Wee, who was all alone to the left of the goal. The match became very physical in the second half, as the two teams combined for four yellow cards and 17 fouls after halftime (33 fouls and five yellow cards in the game). AUG's Josh Sweeney drove a low-lying corner kick to the near post, where Chad Gilmer made a diving header to the back of the net for the game-winning tally. Lebahn made six saves in the loss, as shots were nearly even at 16-15 in favor of Augsburg (6-6 on corner kicks).
SERIES HISTORY: SJU leads the series with a 35-11-7 record since 1971, including a 14-4-2 record in Minneapolis since 1978. The Johnnies, however, have lost their last three meetings with the Auggies at Edor Nelson Field.
