Saint John's soccer hosts St. Scholastica for a Monday afternoon MIAC meeting tomorrow, Sept. 22, at 2 p.m. The game was originally scheduled for Sept. 17 but was postponed due to lightning and heavy rain. – Live Stats | Live Video

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's opened conference play with its first setback of the season, a 3-1 loss to unbeaten Bethel on Saturday, Sept. 20, at Haws Field. 

Bethel scored a pair of first half goals and the Johnnies struggled to create offense until late in the game. Freshman forward Lisle Cherwien (Mound, Minn./Orono) scored the only tally of the day for SJU (4-1-2, 0-1-0 MIAC) just after the half, but the Royals capitalized 20 minutes later to dash any hopes of a comeback.

Bethel capitalized six minutes into play, as Ryan Swanda scored his fourth of the season off a cross from Jordan Ross. Ross doubled the lead for BU in minute 28, deflecting a shot past freshman keeper Austin Ertel (Brownsburg, Ind./Lawrence Central) off a shot from James Oberholtzer.

Trailing by two after the half, the Johnnies mustered some offensive pressure after the break thanks to leading attacker sophomore Ronan O'Connor (Woodbury, Minn./Hill-Murray). O'Connor put three shots toward the Bethel goal, the final of which rebounded to Cherwien for his second goal of the season. 

The Royals put the game out of reach about 20 minutes later, as a long goal kick from Bethel keeper Griffin Blokker landed on the foot of Ross down the field, who tapped in his second of the game past Ertel, who made an aggressive challenge on the play.

The Johnnies out-shot Bethel 21-13, but eight of BU's attempts made it on-target. O'Connor accounted for seven of SJU's 21 shots and three of the team's shots on goal. Ertel finished with five saves and suffered his first loss (4-1-1 record).

A LOOK AT THE SAINTS: St. Scholastica (0-4-3, 0-1-0 MIAC) dropped its MIAC opener to Gustavus Adolphus on Saturday (Sept. 20), falling 6-1 in St. Peter. Gustavus freshman Kieran Mahan scored a quick goal at the 5:22 mark to start the game and struck again three minutes later for his fourth and fifth tallies of the year. Junior Joe Flory added two more two minutes apart to give Gustavus a 4-0 lead at the half. The Saints' Ted Barker broke the shutout at minute 52, but GAC tacked on two more to end the game. 

CSS is still looking for its first win of the season, having played to three draws so far – two of which were scoreless. Barker, Tim Bader and Gabriel Marchesoni lead the Saints with two points each, all on solo goals; St. Scholastica is yet to record an assist this season. Ben Hallberg has seen the most action between the pipes, playing and starting in seven games with a 2.14 GAA and .749 save percentage (44 saves) this fall.

LAST FALL: SJU scored two goals in the final 2:13, including the game-winner from sophomore midfielder Luke Madden (St. Paul, Minn./Cretin-Derham Hall) with 1.4 seconds remaining, to earn a 4-3 victory over St. Scholastica last Oct. 23 (2024) in Collegeville.

Goalkeeper Evan Siefken '25 took a free kick at midfield that found Conlin at the top-left of the box. Conlin deflected the ball to O'Connor, but the bounce drew O'Connor to the left edge of the box. O'Connor quickly possessed the ball, spun and found Madden at the far post for the left-footed game-winner and his first collegiate goal. 

Madden also had a foot in the Johnnies' game-tying goal with 2:13 to play. He took a corner kick that ricocheted off Danny Boyle high up into the air. When the ball came closer to Earth, Madden sent a header into the box that somehow found its way through traffic to the right foot of McKaid Schotzko for his second goal of the season.

The Johnnies built a 2-0 lead in the game's first 18 minutes, but the Saints answered with three-straight goals for the lead.

Senior forward Alex Bowman (Elk River, Minn./Rogers) gave the home team a 1-0 advantage in the 15th minute on a give-and-go from senior defender Carter Hermanson (St. Paul, Minn./Holy Angels). The goal was Bowman's fourth of the season and 13th of his career. Boyle then made it 2-0 with his third goal of the season on a well-executed cross from Schotzko 3:32 later.

CSS tied the game on a pair of goals from Gabriel Marchesoni, his team-leading 11th and 12th of the season. He dribbled over 30 yards for his first tally in the 37th minute and tied the contest at 2-2 with a penalty kick in the 61st. David Lopez gave the visitors the lead thanks to a well-placed free kick to the back post from Truls Wichstrom-Johansen with 10:09 to play.

Siefken made five saves in the win to even his record at 6-6-1. SJU recorded a 22-13 margin in shots (10-8 on goal) and 11 corner kicks to the Saints' five. 

The home team was whistled to a 23-7 count in fouls, though CSS was handed five yellow cards (as well as a red card after time expired).

SERIES HISTORY: The Johnnies are 17-3 all-time against the Saints, including a 5-1 record in Collegeville. SJU has won 16 of the last 18 meetings overall.