Saint John's opens MIAC soccer play with a 4 p.m. game at Bethel on Tuesday, Sept. 15, in Arden Hills. – Live Stats | Live Video

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's (6-0-0 overall) extended its win streak to six games with a 1-0 shutout at Wisconsin-Superior on Saturday (Sept. 12).

Freshman defender Billy Cornett (Minneapolis, Minn./Cretin-Derham Hall) broke the stalemate with his team-leading fourth goal of the season with 23:51 remaining in the game. Sophomore midfielder James Torguson (Shakopee, Minn.) launched a corner kick to the near post for Cornett, who ran in from the top of the box and one-touched it into the goal.

Sophomore goalkeeper Alex Keekley (St. Louis Park, Minn./Minnetonka) made a season- and career-high seven saves for his fifth shutout in five starts this fall.

SJU registered statistical advantages over UWS in shots (21-12), shots on goal (11-7) and corner kicks (12-3).

6-0 START: The Johnnies have started the 2026 season with a 540-minute shutout streak and the 6-0 start to the season is SJU's best since 2005 – head coach Tudor Flintham's senior season – when it reached the NCAA Division III playoffs thanks to the MIAC playoff championship and finished with a 14-3-3 (7-2-1 MIAC) record. 

NCAA STATS: SJU has out-scored the opposition 28-0 and recorded a sizeable margin in shots (137-34), shots on goal (77-18) and corner kicks (69-7). The Johnnies enter conference action (through Sept. 13) as the NCAA Division III leader in assists (26), corner kicks per game (11.5), goals (28), GAA (0.00), goal differential (+28), penalty-kick percentage (1.000/4-for-4), save percentage (1.000), shutout percentage (1.000) and total points (82). 

Individually, Keekley is the Division III leader in GAA (0.00), save percentage (1.000) and shutouts (5), and is 10th in goalie minutes played (450:00). Cornett leads the nation in game-winning goals (3), while Ryan is second in assists (5).

A LOOK AT THE ROYALS: Bethel (3-1-1 overall) is coming off a 3-2 victory over Simpson (Iowa) last Friday (Sept. 11) in Arden Hills. Junior Roy Kyle scored the game-winning goal with 4:20 remaining  and assisted on freshman Noah Ahlquist's game-tying goal in the 73rd minute. Kyle leads the Royals with seven points (1g/5a), while seniors Nathan Hunt and James Oberholtzer have two goals and two assists apiece. Junior goalkeeper Griffin Blokker has played all 360 minutes in goal and has a 1.25 GAA and a .750 save percentage (15 saves).

A YEAR AGO: SJU opened MIAC play with its first setback of the season, a 3-1 loss to unbeaten Bethel, last Sept. 20 (2025) at Haws Field. 

Bethel scored a pair of first half goals and the Johnnies struggled to create offense until late in the game. Sophomore forward Lisle Cherwien (Mound, Minn./Orono) scored the only tally of the day for SJU 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 played the ball of a corner kick and sent it across the box to Swanda for his fourth goal in two games.

Ross doubled the lead for BU in minute 28, deflecting a shot past sophomore 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 junior 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.

SJU managed eight shots and five corner kicks after the goal, but couldn't put anything behind Blokker. 

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).

SERIES HISTORY: The Johnnies are 37-13-5 record against the Royals since 1973, including an 18-5-3 record in Arden Hills.