No. 1 ranked Beavers defeat St. John’s in second round of men’s soccer NCAA tournament
Oregon State sophomore midfielder Mouhameth Thiam driving the ball up the pitch at Paul Lorenz Field on Nov. 21. Thiam finished the game with 1 goal for the Beavers, helping them with against the St. Johns University Red Storm by a score of 2-0.
November 22, 2021
After coming off a first round bye, the No.1 ranked Oregon State University men’s soccer team defeated the St. Johns University (New York) 2-0 at home in the second round of the NCAA men’s soccer tournament.
The Red Storm traveled from two time zones away to face the Beavers after coming off a first round win against the Princeton University tigers just three days earlier. This was the first meeting for both teams and only the third PAC-12 match up for St. Johns in their history, the last being at UCLA in 2004.
With a sold out crowd and over 1500 fans in attendance, the Beavers came out and showed why they are the No. 1 overall seed. At the 10:38 mark of the match, Oregon State sophomore midfielder Mouhameth Thiam scored the first goal of the game for the Beavers assisted by redshirt-sophomore Carlos Moliner. This surely took away some of the jitters that come with being in the NCAA tournament.
With seconds remaining in the first half the Red Storm were nearly able to tie it up with a corner kick and a quick few shot attempts directed at junior goalkeeper Adrian Fernandez. Luckily the shots only hit the crossbar and did not get through the goal.
The Red Storm are known for their defense. Their defense was good but the Beavers came prepared. With just 5:48 left in the game, Oregon State sophomore midfielder Javier Amas scored the second goal of the game assisted by Oregon State junior midfielder Sofiane Djeffal, which essentially secured the win for the Beavers.
The Beavers ended with 15 shots and 8 shots on the goal while St. Johns finished the match with just 6 shots and 0 on the goal.
This match was especially exciting as it is just the Beavers third NCAA tournament win in history. The first two wins come from the first rounds of both the 2014 and 2018 NCAA tournament. The Beavers have never in the programs history won two consecutive NCAA tournament games.
With the 2-0 win against St. Johns, the Beavers record moves to 13-2-3 which ties for the programs most wins in history.
The No. 1 Beavers will face the No. 16 University of New Hampshire Wildcats who are coming off a 4-1 win against North Carolina. The match up will take place at Paul Lorenz field here in Corvallis this Sunday (time TBA) for the third round of the NCAA tournament.