Box Score
ARDEN HILLS, Minn. – No. 20 Saint John's cruised past Bethel in its MIAC opener with a six-goal, shutout victory on Tuesday, Sept. 15.
The win was the newly-ranked Johnnies' largest differential over Bethel and gave them a 7-0-0 start for the first time since 2002.
SJU (7-0-0, 1-0-0 MIAC) had a number of early opportunities but was held scoreless until minute 39 of the first half. Freshman forward Charlies Foslien (Ramsey, Minn./Anoka) scored the eventual game-winner and his third goal of the season on a quick touch into the goal. Junior midfielder
Thomas Theising (Minneapolis, Minn./Wayzata) made a short pass to sophomore forward
Eli Ryan (Victoria, Minn./Minnetonka) on a free kick to break around the wall of BU (3-2-0, 0-1-0 MIAC) defenders. Ryan drove to the goal line before crossing the ball to Foslien in the box.
The Johnnies wasted little time doubling the lead after halftime, as sophomore forward
Axel Martin (Lakeville, Minn./Rosemount) headed in a pass from junior forward
Ronan O'Connor (Woodbury, Minn./Hill-Murray) with a defender on his back 3:44 into the second frame.
Forward
Jacob Oliver (St. Cloud, Minn./Cathedral) added his third of the season in the 57th minute on an all-freshman connection. Forward
Soren Benson (Brainerd, Minn./Lake Region Christian) recovered the ball from Bethel defenders near the goal line and sent a cross through the box to Foslien, who nudged the ball to Oliver after being fronted by the BU goalkeeper.
Freshman defender
Billy Cornett (Minneapolis, Minn./Cretin-Derham Hall) scored his team-leading fifth goal of the season on a penalty kick after a foul in the box at 68:21.
Benson made it 5-0 just 1:27 later, as SJU moved systematically up the field thanks to some nifty passing from sophomores
Gabe Franzman (Bettendorf, Iowa) and
Olin Franzwa (St. Paul, Minn./Woodbury).
Sophomore forward
Carter Gellner (Chaska, Minn./Chanhassen) added the exclamation point with 2:16 remaining, stealing the ball from the Royals after a misplayed pass from a BU defender to the goalkeeper. Gellner chipped it past the keeper racing into the play and sprinted the ball into the goal.
Sophomore goalkeeper
Alex Keekley (St. Louis Park, Minn./Minnetonka) maintained his scoreless streak, now extended to 522:06, without having to make a save against the Royals.
Sophomore goalkeeper
Austin Ertel (Brownsburg, Ind./Lawrence Central) finished the last 17:54 of the shutout in goal.
The Johnnies out-shot Bethel 19-5 and didn't allow a shot on goal for the second time this season (10-0 on goal).
The Johnnies return home to host Gustavus Adolphus (1-2-1, 0-0-0 MIAC) at 4:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 19, at Haws Field.
