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Red Storm falls to Rutgers in Big East, 3-2

By Dylan Butler

But for the second straight year, the Big East quarterfinals instead have served up heaping tablespoons of frustration for Dave Masur's team. Last year it was the fifth-seeded Georgetown Hoyas that upset the Red Storm, 1-0, in overtime and on Sunday at Mitchel Athletic Complex in Uniondale it was seventh-seeded Rutgers that defeated No. 2 St. John's, 3-2, in double overtime in front of 612.

Dennis Ludwig scored the game-winner in the 112th minute for the Scarlet Knights, who keep their NCAA tournament hopes alive with the win. Rutgers (10-8-1) hosts No. 3 Boston College while top-seeded Connecticut faces No. 5 Seton Hall in the other semifinal Friday at Rutgers. Meanwhile, St. John's (13-4-2), which is all but assured of their ninth straight tournament bid, will have to await word if it garners an at-large bid Monday.

“It's disappointing, heart-wrenching and tough,” Masur said. “You never know what's going to happen. We had an unbelievable string of eight out of eight Big East finals…Right now, all those kids have empty stomachs.”

Less than three minutes into the game, Shalrie Joseph chested the ball to Jeff Matteo, who had Rutgers keeper Ricky Zinter beat to the far post, but his shot from 20 yards out caromed off the crossbar. Chris Wingert ran on to the rebound and centered it to an unmarked Joseph in the box, but the junior forward shanked the shot that sailed high over the bar.

Four minutes later the Red Storm jumped out in front when Marlon Rojas' long ball was flicked on by Paul Szewczyk, freeing Joseph. The Red Storm's leading scorer ran into the box and chipped the ball over Zinter's right shoulder from 10 yards out.

Rutgers evened the score in the 31st minute when Mike Reid blocked a Red Storm clearing attempt and Sherif El-Bialy ran onto the loose ball and the native of Cairo, Egypt found space and beat St. John's keeper Jeff Stoklosa low inside the far post from eight yards out. It was the first goal the Red Storm allowed in 396 minutes, dating back to a 1-0 loss at Notre Dame on Oct. 14.

The combination of El-Bialy, who missed eight games in the middle of the season because of academic eligibility problems, and Dennis Ludwig up front gave a usually stingy Red Storm defense fits.

“I think [the biggest difference in the game was El-Bialy and Ludwig], they caused havoc for our defense,” Masur said. “Those guys in front gave UConn hell and we knew today that they would give us a little bit of hell as well.”

Ten minutes after tying the score, Rutgers took its first lead of the match as Dennis Ludwig touched the ball past Red Storm defender Omar Chavez and broke in free on Stoklosa from 40 yards out. The sophomore forward ran into the box and cut to Stoklosa's left. The St. John's keeper took Ludwig down five yards inside the box for a penalty kick. El-Bialy took the penalty and easily beat Stoklosa, who guessed left, to the keeper's right for his fourth goal in three games to put the Scarlet Knight a 2-1 lead.

Less than two minutes into the second half, Joseph netted his second goal of the game. Rojas, who received the ball from Rich Bradley, again crossed it just inside Rutgers' end of the field from the near sideline to Joseph at the top of the box. Joseph turned to goal, split two Rutgers defenders and beat Zinter low inside the near post from 15 yards out to tie the score at 2.

It stayed that way through the rest of regulation and 21 minutes of sudden-death overtime before Ludwig scored the dramatic game-winner. El-Bialy ran onto a long cross along the endline, chipped the ball back to himself shedding two Red Storm defenders. Stoklosa got a piece of his shot, but the rebound rolled in front of net where Ludwig picked up the ball and easily slotted it into the open net for his 11th goal of the year.

“We went so long without two of our best attacking players,” said Rutgers head coach Bob Reasso. “Dennis is still not match fit, Sherif is still not match fit, but we made a decision to keep them in late, because they were our best chances to score.”

It was the first time the Red Storm defense, which entered the game allowing just nine goals all year, gave up three in a game. And the loss, which dropped St. John's from No.7 to No. 10 in the country, marks the first time a No. 2 seed fell to a No. 7 since the inception of the quarterfinal round in the Big East tournament in 1995.