By JOHN BOSCHINI
The No. 8 Red Storm of St. John’s gave further credibility to their claim as a top-10 team with a 1-0 victory over No. 7 Louisville.
Pablo Battuto Punyed netted his second game-winner of the season while Rafael Diaz made four saves in the shutout. St. John’s moves above .500 in conference play and is showing a stinginess in defense, notching seven clean sheets on the year.
Louisville were a consensus title contender before the season kicked off but a horrid run of form in conference play has cast serious doubt over the Cardinals. Louisville is 1-3-1 in Big East play.
The game-winning goal came when Jack Bennett found Punyed at the top of the 18-yard box. The senior midfielder found the back of the net with a fine finish and St. John’s held on for victory.
In other weekend college soccer action:
Maryland tops Duke with four-goal outing
John Stertzer scored two goals as No. 2 Maryland trounced Duke 4-2in front of nearly 8,000 fans at Ludwig Park. Sean Davis put Duke up early but Sunny Jane equalized with his first goal of the season. Two goals from Stertzer early in the second half and Patrick Mullins iced the victory with a fourth goal.
Notre Dame puts three past Georgetown
Junior strikers Ryan Finley and Danny O’Leary notched goals and midfielder Michael Rose added a third as No. 15 Notre Dame shutout No. 23 Georgetown 3-0. Will Walsh made three saves in the victory.
New Mexico slams Denver 6-0
Six different Lobos scored in the rout of Denver as No. 6 New Mexico stretched its unbeaten run to 13 games. Lance Rozeboom, Carson Baldinger, Giovanni Rollie, Blake Smith, Devon Sondoval and James Rogers contributed goals as Victor Rodriguez made four saves in 78 minutes of action.
Finlay nets hat trick as Creighton stays perfect at home
Ethan Finlay recorded the Blue Jays first hat trick in seven years as No. 9 Creighton returned to form with a 3-1 victory over No. 10 UC-Irvine. Creighton maintained their perfect record at home but Jimmy Turner’s goal for UC-Irvine was the first one conceded by the Blue Jays at home this season.
COLLEGE SCOREBOARD
FRIDAY
No. 2 North Carolina 4, College of Charleston 2
Clemson 2, No. 14 Boston College 0
No. 16 Cal-State Bakersfield 4, Sacramento State 0
Wake Forest 4, No. 21 Virginia 3
No. 25 UNC-Charlotte 5, St. Bonaventure 1
SATURDAY
No. 1 Connecticut 2, Pittsburgh 1
No. 5 South Florida 3, Syracuse 2 (OT)
UAB 1, No. 12 Central Florida 0
No. 17 Coastal Carolina 3, UNC Asheville 0
Marquette 2, No. 20 West Virginia 1
No. 24 James Madison 2, George Mason 1
SUNDAY
No. 6 New Mexico 1, Air Force 0
No. 13 UCLA 2, San Diego State 0
San Jose State 2, No. 16 Cal-State Bakersfield 0
No. 25 UNC-Charlotte 1, Duquesne 0
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What did you think of the weekend's results? Impressed with St. John's? Is Creighton back on track? Can Duke recover from their latest setback?
Share your thoughts below.
UConn 1 – Pitt 0 on a pretty ugly goal.