St. John's holds off Yellowjackets, 1-0

Trevor Laroche-Theune had two shots on goal for UW-Superior.

Box Score

St. John's 1, Superior 0

Heading into Tuesday afternoon's non-conference contest with St. John's, the UW-Superior soccer team hoped to reverse a recent trend of misfortune.

It had been a full two weeks since the Yellowjackets tasted victory and with just two games left in the regular season, a road win against the Johnnies would have given UW-Superior some momentum heading into their regular season finale Saturday.

Unfortunately for the Yellowjackets, St. John's scored a late first-half goal and then held-off an offensive surge from UW-Superior in the second half to pull out a 1-0 victory in Collegeville, Minn.

UW-Superior fell despite controlling the majority of the second half, racking up a 17-9 edge in shots for the game. The Johnnies held on behind the solid play of goal tender Kevin Lebahn, who finished with five saves to pick up the victory.

The Yellowjackets (9-8-1) tested Lebahn early in the first half when Trevor Laroche-Theune (LaPointe, Wis./Bayfield ) generated UW-Superior's best chance of the first half, firing a shot from inside the penalty area was turned away to keep the game scoreless.

After the two sides traded shots for most of the half, St. John's (10-6) found pay-dirt when Zach Wright tapped home Daniel Bruckbauer's rebound at 40:09, giving the Johnnies a 1-0 lead heading into the intermission.

UW-Superior picked up their play after halftime, leading to a golden scoring opportunity for Ben Kasper (Eagan, Minn./Eagan) as he picked up a rebound from Gio Rodriguez (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif./Los Osos) to the right of Lebahn's goal at the 64:01 mark of regulation. Kasper's effort bounced just wide however, preserving the Johnnies' one-goal cushion.

The Yellowjackets continued to press down the stretch, getting scoring opportunities from both Kasper and Rodriguez in the final five minutes of the second half. But the St. John's defense held firm to preserve the 1-0 shutout.

Rodriguez led UW-Superior offensively with five total shots while Laroche-Theune had two shots on goal for the Yellowjackets. Matt Elder (New Hope, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong) took the loss for UW-Superior in goal, making three saves before being relieved by Zach Harwerth (Anoka, Minn./Anoka) at halftime.

Rocky Harmon led St. John's with three shots for the game.

UW-Superior closes out the regular season on Saturday at Lawrence. Opening kick against the Vikings is scheduled for 1 p.m.

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Players Mentioned

#1 Matt Elder: GK; 5' 11"; Senior

#0 Zach Harwerth: GK; 6' 0"; Senior

#9 Ben Kasper: F; 5' 10"; Senior

#23 Trevor Laroche: F; 6' 0"; Junior

#10 Gio Rodriguez: M; 5' 11"; Sophomore

Players Mentioned

#1 Matt Elder
: 5' 11"; Senior
: GK

#0 Zach Harwerth
: 6' 0"; Senior
: GK

#9 Ben Kasper
: 5' 10"; Senior
: F

#23 Trevor Laroche
: 6' 0"; Junior
: F

#10 Gio Rodriguez
: 5' 11"; Sophomore
: M