The Johnnie soccer team ventures to Winona for a 1 p.m. game at Saint Mary's this Saturday, Sept. 23. – Live Stats | Live Video

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's (4-2-1, 1-1-0 MIAC) scored three unanswered goals in the second half in a 3-1 home win over Hamline last Saturday (Sept. 16) in Collegeville.

The Pipers took a 1-0 lead into halftime thanks to a goal from Nate Vogel in the 29th minute. The Johnnies, however, stormed out of the break and controlled the second half, despite being down a man for the game's final 34:26.

Freshman defender McKaid Schotzko (Rochester, Minn./Lourdes) tied the game at 1-1 with his first collegiate goal – a header off a corner kick from sophomore midfielder Will Falkman (Waconia, Minn.) – 3:15 after halftime.

Sophomore forward Alex Bowman (Elk River, Minn./Rogers) tallied what proved to be the game-winning goal on a pretty through ball from sophomore forward Carter Hermanson (St. Paul, Minn./Holy Angels) 3:38 later. The goal was Bowman's team-leading fourth of the season and ninth of his Johnnie career.

Falkman, however, was issued his first yellow card 40 seconds later and earned his second 2:01 after that to leave SJU down a man the rest of the way. 

The adversity failed to slow down SJU, however, as freshman midfielder Andrew Pitzner (Maple Grove, Minn./Heritage Christian Academy) collected his second goal in as many games following a give-and-go between sophomore defender Lucca Holman (San Rafael de Escazu, Puerto Rico/Lincoln School) and junior midfielder Christian Rodriguez (Cold Spring, Minn./Rocori) in the 68th minute.

Junior goalkeeper Evan Siefken (Lakeville, Minn./North) made 10 saves to improve to 4-2-1 this fall.

TWO IN A ROW: Pitzner added some insurance with his second goal in as many games in last Saturday's 3-1 win over Hamline. The 2022 Minnesota Mr. Soccer for Class A, Pitzner scored 31 goals and tallied eight assists as a senior last fall at Heritage Christian Academy in Maple Grove.

A LOOK AT THE CARDINALS: Saint Mary's (3-2-1, 0-1-0 MIAC) suffered a 3-1 loss last Saturday (Sept. 16) at Augsburg. The Auggies built a 3-0 lead thanks to two goals from Kebba Janneh and a tally from Jakob Mohrlok. Janneh's first came in the 12th minute and the second was a penalty kick just 15 seconds into the second half.  and netted his team-leading seventh goal of the season, beating SMU goalkeeper Daniel Sessler (Brookfield, Ill.) just 11:58 into the opening half. Senior midfielder Jack Hurley erased the shutout for SMU by converting a penalty kick of his own in the 82nd minute. Sophomore forward Cohan Hare leads the team in assists (3) and points (9), and is tied with senior midfielder Aidan Adamek for the team lead in goals (3). Senior goalkeeper Daniel Sessler has all six decisions in net with a 1.27 GAA and a .759 save percentage (22 saves).

LAST FALL: SJU started the 2022 conference schedule with a 7-0 win over Saint Mary's last Sept. 17 at Haws Field. The Johnnies out-shot the Cardinals by a 23-8 margin (15-3 on goal) and had another goal disallowed in the second half due to offsides. Three Johnnies recorded their first collegiate goals in the victory.

Senior defender Cole Ober (Hudson, Wis.) started the scoring with his first collegiate goal in the 14th minute and sophomore forward Cooper Nowak (Princeton, Minn.) burned by the SMU defense for his second goal of the season early in the 38th minute.

Forward Kevin Arthur '23 ended the first half with his first collegiate goal at the 41:07 mark and senior midfielder Matt D. Anderson (Omaha, Neb./Creighton Prep) put away a penalty kick 8:10 after halftime for his fourth goal of the season and 12th of his career.

Midfielder Kevin Stark-Haws '23 gave SJU a 5-0 lead in the 78th minute and Bowman tallied two goals in the final seven minutes. 

Siefken made two saves and Jake Swanson '23 played the last 14:21 and made one stop.

The seven goals were the most for SJU since Sept. 21, 2019 (a 7-2 home win over Hamline) and the seven-goal margin was the largest since Sept. 5, 2004 (a 9-1 home victory over Northland, Wis.). The margin of victory was the largest for the Johnnies in a conference game since Sept. 26, 2000 (an 8-0 home win over Augsburg).

SERIES HISTORY: The Johnnies are 35-6-4 against the Cardinals since 1981, including a 16-4-1 record in Winona.