NCAAM: St. John’s plays in-state foe Hofstra to 1-1 tie

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. (Via St. John’s University) – After opening its preseason with a 2-1 win over Manhattan on Friday, the St. John’s Red Storm underwent its first road test of 2016 on Tuesday night, playing Hofstra to a 1-1 tie at Hofstra Soccer Stadium.

“I think Hofstra has had a really good team, really the last four or five years they’ve been an NCAA power and I think we played well against them in the spring and had good bits in the game against them tonight and ended up with a tie,” said Head Coach Dr. Dave Masur. “I thought we had some promising guys, had some more depth, the depth helped and it was a good second match for us. Hopefully we are learning and growing. We have a lot of freshmen, sophomores and some other second-year guys, so we are trying to give guys experience and understanding.”

+Read: UConn men’s soccer players rack up preseason AAC accolades

The opening minutes of the contest set the tone for a back-and-forth affair over the course of the first half, as the Red Storm and Pride traded chances with no result.

The Johnnies had a great opportunity in the 43rd minute, as Thomas Mickoski played a cross through the box that went untouched before finding the foot of Olli Pirinen. The freshman from Finland had a great look at the net, but his shot was blocked at the last second and went out on the endline.

On the ensuing corner kick, Ludvik Benco played a perfect ball into the box just as Simon Tchoukriel was working free of his defender and the graduate student from Lyon, France, headed it in to give the Red Storm a 1-0 with less than two minutes to go in the half.