St. John's to Host DePaul in Regular Season Finale

The winners of four straight, the St. John's women's soccer team will host DePaul in the Red Storm's regular season finale at Belson Stadium on Thursday night, first kick is scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday's match will be streamed live on the BIG EAST Digital Network. Ralph Bednarzak will be calling the match with Meghan Caffrey reporting on the sidelines from Queens. In its last outing, the Red Storm defeated Xavier, 1-0, to move into a tie for second place with Butler in the BIG EAST women's soccer standings. With the victory over the Musketeers the Johnnies guaranteed themselves home field advantage in either the opening or semifinal round of the BIG EAST Tournament. Still in the running to receive a bye in the opening round of the tournament, the Red Storm just needs to match what Butler does against Villanova on Thursday to advance directly to a semifinal match on Nov. 1. In the team's most recent victory over Xavier, Christina Bellero scored the game-winning goal in the 41st minute, improving the Johnnie's record to 9-7-1 and 5-2-1 in the BIG EAST. Meredith Reinhardt made a career-high nine saves en route to her fourth shutout of the season. For their efforts, both athletes earned conference honors as Bellero was named BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Week and Reinhardt was tabbed to the league's honor roll for the third-straight week. Undefeated in its last five matches, the Red Storm's defense has been a major key to the team's success. In front of Arizona transfer Reinhardt, the back line of Mecara Bruce, Alexa Dolgos, Christine McBeath and Katherine Turner has contributed in holding opponents to just three goals over the last five games, with a trio of shutouts. Zsani Kajan continues to lead the team offensively with 11 tallies over the course of the 2018 season. The Budapest, Hungary, native is just the seventh Johnnie in program history to record double-digit goals in a single season. Kajan's 11 goals on the year, rank her second overall in conference standings and place her inside the top-30 on the national level. DePaul enters Thursday's match after a 1-0 win over Villanova in its last outing on Sunday. The Blue Demons improved to 7-6-4 overall and 3-3-2 in BIG EAST action. In conference standings, DePaul is currently in a tie for fourth with Providence. The Blue Demons control their own destiny as a win means they have secured a spot in the BIG EAST Tournament. DePaul is led offensively by Franny Cerny, who paces the team with eight goals and 19 points. Cerney's goal total ranks third in the BIG EAST, while her point total is good enough for fifth. St. John's and DePaul have met seven times in the history of the two programs with the all-time series tied at 3-3-1. Last season, the Johnnies fell short on the road as DePaul topped the Red Storm, 1-0.