The Johnnie soccer team continues non-conference play by hosting Bethany Lutheran at 3 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 7, at Haws Field. – Live Stats | Live Video

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's (1-0-2 overall) defeated Crown 4-1 for its first win of the season on Wednesday (Sept. 3) in Collegeville. Sophomore forward Ronan O'Connor (Woodbury, Minn./Hill-Murray) accounted for the Johnnies' second and fourth goals and assisted the third for a five-point outing. 

Freshman midfielder James Torguson (Shakopee, Minn.) scored the first goal of the game for SJU 12 minutes into play, recovering a rebound from classmate Axel Martin's (Lakeville, Minn./Rosemount) shot on goal. Martin's attempt was saved by the Polar goalkeeper off the right post but was rebounded into the top left corner by Torguson for his first collegiate tally. 

Freshman midfielder Ike Deuel (Maple Grove, Minn.) delivered O'Connor's first of the game when his free kick from the top of the box was saved by the Polars' goalkeeper but the rebound went right to O'Connor for an easy put-back. 

Senior forward Alex Bowman (Elk River, Minn./Rogers) gave the Johnnies a 3-0 lead just after the break, as O'Connor stole the ball from a Crown defender and fed Bowman with a cross near the right post.  

Crown ended freshman Austin Ertel's (Brownsburg, Indiana/Lawrence Central) shutout in the 52nd minute as Noah Feneis broke through the Johnnie defense to tuck the lone tally for the Polars under Ertel's arm uncontested. Ertel finished with three saves for his first collegiate win in goal (1-0-1 record). 

The Johnnies responded just three minutes later, as Martin intercepted a pass from the Crown keeper for a quick set up to a wide-open O'Connor for his second of the match and fourth of the season.  

Bowman nearly had his second of the game off a cross from senior forward Connor Drong (St. Cloud, Minn./Cathedral) in the final 10 minutes of the game, but his header hit the right post and deflected wide.  

SJU out-shot Crown 28-4 (15-4 on goal), including a mark of 15-1 margin in the first half. The Johnnies totaled nine corner kicks to the Polars' one. Both teams combined for five yellow cards (three on Crown, two on SJU). 

FIVE POINTS: O'Connor's five points (2g/1a) were the most by a Johnnie in six years, when Ben Becker '20 recorded six thanks to a hat trick in SJU's 5-2 victory at Northwestern on Sept. 7, 2019. 

FIRST WIN: Wednesday's win was the first at SJU for head coach Tudor Flintham '06. Flintham amassed 140 wins between coaching stints with Gustavus Adolphus and Nebraska Wesleyan (men and women) in 10 total seasons. He became the second coach in program history to go unbeaten in his first three games as head coach, joining player-coach Jim Vivadelli, who won his first five in 1969.

A LOOK AT VIKINGS: Sunday's matinee will be the third-consecutive game against an MIAC opponent for Bethany Lutheran (0-1-0 overall), which fell at home to Carleton 3-2 on Wednesday night (Sept. 3) and hosts St. Olaf tonight (Friday, Sep. 5). The Vikings finished second in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) with an 11-2-1 record (12-7-3 overall) last season and were picked to again finish second in the UMAC preseason coaches' poll. BLC's lone conference losses were to Wisconsin-Superior, which bested the Vikings in the league playoff title match for the fifth-consecutive season. The Yellowjackets went on to win two games in the NCAA Tournament. BLC returns four student-athletes who were named to the All-UMAC second team last fall: sophomore midfielder Guilherme Gancho, senior forward Gijs van Eldik (6g/2a), junior defender Mike van der Horst (0g/1a) and junior defender Jamie van Wijland (2g/3a). The 2024 UMAC Rookie of the Year, Gancho was second on the team with 30 points (12g/6a). Sophomore midfielder Diogo Cavalcanti was third on the team with 20 points (5g/10a). Twenty-six of the 40 Vikings are international.   

SERIES HISTORY: SJU is 2-0-1 all-time against Bethany Lutheran on the soccer pitch, but this weekend's matchup is the first since Aug. 30, 1991 (a 3-0 SJU win in Minneapolis).