Saint John's soccer travels to face Bethany Lutheran for a 7 p.m. match on Tuesday, Sept. 8, in Mankato. – Live Stats | Live Video

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's (4-0-0 overall) completed its torrid pace with three more shutouts in three-consecutive days Sept. 4-6.

Saint John's 7, at Minnesota-Morris 0 (Sept. 4)
The game was originally scheduled for a 3 p.m. start but was moved up to 10 a.m. due to the heat index forecast for later in the day. 

SJU had two goals disallowed early in the game – one for a foul and the other on offsides. The visitors continued the onslaught and finally broke through thanks to freshman forward Grady Monette's (Andover, Minn.) first collegiate goal in the 29th minute. 

The Johnnies used a freshman connection to get on the scoreboard, with all three touches coming from a new Johnnie. Forward Charles Foslien (Ramsey, Minn./Anoka) maintained possession through the midfield before moving the ball to classmate Soren Benson (Brainerd, Minn./Lake Region Christian). Benson delivered a pass back to Foslien, who got an uncontested shot off that bounced off the Morris keeper's hands. Monette cleaned up the rebound with the eventual game-winner. 

Freshman forward Owen Erickson (Lakeville, Minn./North) doubled the lead before the end of the half, heading a corner kick from sophomore defender Ike Deuel (Maple Grove, Minn.) with 1:45 remaining. 

Junior forward Ronan O'Connor (Woodbury, Minn./Hill-Murray) open the floodgates with his first goal of the season 2:45 into the second half. Fellow captain Eli Ryan (Victoria, Minn./Minnetonka) dropped a pass to O'Connor in the middle of the box. O'Connor kicked the ball over a pair of defenders and back to his foot before beating the Morris keeper over his right leg. The goal enabled O'Connor to break his tie with Michael Coborn '14 for fourth in program history with 27.

Monette scored his second of the game 10 minutes later directly off a free kick above the box. His shot bent around the wall of Cougars (1-1 overall) and into the bottom corner of the goal. 

Freshman forward Jacob Oliver (St. Cloud, Minn./Cathedral), Minnesota high school's all-time leading scorer, added another collegiate first three minutes later, scoring off a feed from classmate Ethan Brown (Lakeville, Minn./Rosemount) for a 5-0 lead. 

Foslien (75:54) and Benson (87:26) each added goals on penalty kicks before the end of the game.

SJU out-shot UMM 35-3, including a 19-3 margin on goal. The Johnnies were awarded 16 corner kicks to the Cougars' one, eight of which came before the first SJU goal. 

Sophomore goalkeeper Alex Keekley (St. Louis Park, Minn./Minnetonka) made all three saves for his second-straight clean sheet to start the season.

Saint John's 5, at Crown 0 (Sept. 5)
The Johnnies erased the scoreless draw with three goals during the game's final nine minutes of the first half and never looked back. Thirty-three Johnnies played in the game.

The Crown goalkeeper took down O'Connor in the box for a red card and penalty kick in the 37th minute, and freshman defender Billy Cornett (Minneapolis, Minn./Cretin-Derham Hall) capitalized for his second goal of the season and a 1-0 lead. 

Brown sent a deep cross from left to right and Ryan tipped the ball in with a header for his first goal of the season with 3:43 left in the first half.

Monette padded the lead with 1:01 left. He took a corner kick for a quick give-and-go with Brown and ripped a shot to the near post for his third goal over the last two games.

Sophomore forward Lisle Cherwien (Mound, Minn./Orono) tallied his first goal of the season 15:06 into the second half on a beautiful ball to the back post from freshman defender Gavin Spellman (Denver, Colo./East). Spellman then fed freshman Jacob Oliver (St. Cloud, Minn./Cathedral) for his second goal of the season with 15:42 remaining on a similar ball.

The Johnnies out-shot the Polars 25-1 (11-1 on goal) and registered a 10-0 advantage in corner kicks.

Sophomore goalkeeper Cole Hanson (Urbandale, Iowa) made his first start of the season and collected one save, while classmate Austin Ertel (Brownsburg, Ind./Lawrence Central) played the final 26 minutes for the combined shutout.

at Saint John's 8, Coe (Iowa) 0 (Sept. 6)
The Johnnies tallied three goals in the first half and made it to halftime before the weather delay sidelined both teams for 50 minutes. SJU responded with a five-goal onslaught over the game's final 45 minutes, 35:38 of which the Kohawks played down a man due to a red card.

SJU dominated the pace of play, out-shooting Coe 26-0 (17-0 on goal) with a 17-0 advantage in corner kicks. 

O'Connor scored what proved to be the game-winning goal, his second tally of the season, 3:25 into the game. Ryan was deep in Johnnie territory and played a long ball to the foot of O'Connor, who beat three defenders and the keeper in the bottom-left corner. 

Sophomore midfielder Taylor Petrich (Woodbury, Minn./Hill-Murray) doubled the lead off a free kick in the 21st minute. A bit of deception from Brown made the Coe contingent flinch and helped Petrich curve the ball around six players and into the same corner O'Connor found to start the game. 

Freshman midfielder Laird Holden (Iowa City, Iowa/Regina) scored his second of the weekend and his career in the 37th minute. Holden recovered the ball off a Coe turnover above the box and dribbled one past Shaw for a 3-0 advantage at the half. 

Cornett redeemed a header that was called off at Haws Field earlier in the week with another off a direct corner kick from Monette to spark the Johnnies after the extended lightning delay in the 53rd minute.

Just 2:03 later, a double yellow awarded sophomore midfielder James Torguson (Shakopee, Minn.) a penalty kick. He, too, found the bottom left corner of the net, this time on Coe's second of three keepers that made it into the game. 

SJU scored its third goal in six minutes as Cornett and Ryan moved the ball systematically up the left side of the field before feeding sophomore forward Axel Martin (Lakeville, Minn./Rosemount) for a pretty one-timer in the 57th minute. 

Martin added another 6:32 later when a Kohawk defender's header inadvertently set him up after an Ike Deuel (Maple Grove, Minn.) free kick. 

Junior midfielder Thomas Theising (Minneapolis, Minn./Wayzata) ended the game's scoring with 5:55 remaining. Theising one-touched a header from junior forward Micah O'Leary (Phoenix, Ariz./Casa Grande) into the goal thanks to a cross from freshman forward Soren Benson (Brainerd, Minn./Lake Region Christian).

Keekley picked up his third shutout in three starts with the win.

FIRST FOUR GAMES: Through their first four games, the Johnnies have a goal differential of 22-0, a shot differential of 100-11 (56-8) and have allowed just one corner kick compared to 49 for SJU.

The four shutouts, as well as 22 goals scored through the season's first four games are program records. SJU recorded three shutouts in the first four games in seven prior seasons: 1983, 1984, 1985, 1991, 2008, 2014 and 2023. The previous high for goals scored in the first four games was 20 in 1994: L, 1-4 at Ohio Wesleyan; L, 0-1 vs. Kenyon (Ohio) at Ohio Wesleyan; W, 13-0 vs. Cornell (Iowa); and W, 6-0 vs. Coe (Iowa).

A LOOK AT THE VIKINGS: Bethany Lutheran (1-2-1 overall) suffered a 3-2 loss to Dubuque (Iowa) at home Sunday (Sept. 6). The Spartans scored 11:06 into the game and added another two minutes into the second half before freshman Pedro Henrique Meira de Morais cut BLC's deficit in half in the 59th minute. UD tacked on an insurance tally in the 73rd minute before sophomore winger Rosalem Tendaie made it a one-goal game 2:18 later. A 2025 All-UMAC first-team selection last fall, Tendaie leads the team in points with five (2g/1a) and is tied with junior forward Kelvin Hanson for the team lead in goals with two. Senior defender Jamie van Wijland was named to the United Soccer Coach' All-Region third team in addition to All-UMAC first-team honors. Senior goalkeeper Brady Price has played three of the four matches and is 1-1-1 with a 1.41 GAA and a .765 save percentage (13 saves).

LAST FALL: O'Connor scored a pair of goals 4:03 apart in the second half to lift SJU to a 2-0 shutout of Bethany Lutheran last Sept. 7 (2025) in Collegeville.

O'Connor broke the scoreless stalemate for SJU early in the 76th minute and capitalized four minutes later for some insurance.

Cherwien fed a pass up the right side to Torguson, who sent a cross into the box to O'Connor for what proved to be the game-winning goal, his second of the season.

Martin began the second scoring play after he stole the ball from a BLC attacker near the Johnnies' defensive 30-yard mark, dribbled to the opposite side of the field and sent a through ball ahead to O'Connor. The junior maneuvered around his defender to the right and sent a shot to the left post for his sixth goal of the season.

Ertel stopped all seven shots on goal for his first collegiate shutout and improve to 2-0-1 on the young season.

SERIES HISTORY: the Johnnies are 3-0-1 all-time against the Vikings. Tuesday night's match is the first meeting between the two teams in Mankato since 1975.

-Sept. 7, 1974 (in Mankato): W, 3-1
-Sept. 6, 1975 (in Mankato): T, 1-1
-Aug. 30, 1991 (in Minneapolis): W, 3-0
-Sept. 7, 2025 (in Collegeville): W, 2-0