QUEENS, N.Y. – The University of Pennsylvania women's soccer struggled to do much of anything on the offensive end of the field, falling to St. John's, 1-0 Thursday evening at Belson Stadium.
 
With the defeat, the Quakers lose their first match of the year and fall to 2-1-0 on the young season. The Red Storm remain unbeaten through four, improving to 3-0-1.
 
Quaker Notemeal
*The Johnnies claim the first-ever regular season matchup between the two programs and first meeting overall in 23 years.
 
*Penn tallied just three shots total through 90 minutes and only one shot on goal against the stingy SJU defense. The Quakers recorded just one shot in the second half.
 
*Kat Peroulas, Abbey Cook and Megan Lusher all registered shots for Penn. Peroulas had the lone shot on goal.
 
*Laurence Gladu made a pair of saves despite allowing the match-winning goal in the 35th minute. She held the Red Storm to just two shots in the second half.
 
*Penn had a significant edge in fouls, 12-4, with zero bookings between the two sides.
 
How It Happened
St. John's had a flurry of chances early on in the contest, both of which were saved—one in the fifth minute by Laurence Gladu, the other cleared off the line by Paige Kenton in the 28th—to keep the match scoreless.
 
Kat Peroulas had the Quakers' best opportunity go out in front in the 30th minute, but was stopped by the Red Storm goalkeeper.
 
SJU broke through in the 35th minute on a goal for Jessica Garziano from Nicole Gordon to take a 1-0 lead.
 
After Penn was awarded a late corner, Megan Lusher put a boot on one off the leg of Peroulas that went wide out right in the 40th minute as the Quakers went into the locker room at the end of the first half trailing 1-0.
 
St. John's nearly doubled its lead in the 48th minute with a shot that found the back of the net, but the official ruled it offside to keep the score at 1-0.
 
Gladu made her second save of the night with 25 minutes to go.

Putting pressure on the SJU defense in the closing stages of the match, the Quakers had one final shot attempt from Abbey Cook in the 86th minute, but it missed as the Red Storm held on for the shutout victory.
 
Quotable
"We played a hard-fought match against a good St. John's team. As the game went on, I thought we settled in with the speed of play. We learned a lot and will be better for it." – Dr. Krissy Turner, Douglas N. Brush Head Coach of Women's Soccer
 
Up Next
Penn finishes up the road trip at Lehigh on Sunday at the Ulrich Sports Complex in Bethlehem, Pa. Streamed live on ESPN+, the Quakers take on the Mountain Hawks for a second consecutive season. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m.

For the latest on Penn women's soccer, follow @PennWSoccer on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram, and on the web at PennAthletics.com.