NY sports history: Dec. 15, 1996

THIS DAY IN

NY SPORTS HISTORY

Sunday, Dec. 15, 1996

St. John's wins soccer title

St. John's defeated Florida International, 4-1, before a crowd of 20,874 in Richmond, Va. to win the NCAA Men's Soccer College Cup. Florida International was one of two teams to defeat the Red Storm (22-2-2) during the regular season, 2-0 at Florida International. The second time around was all St. John's. Jesse Van Saun scored 27 minutes into the game and Wojtek Krakowiak scored one minute later for a 2-0 halftime lead. After FIU cut the margin to one goal Ben Hickey made it 3-1. Medufia Kulego, who was sidelined a large part of the season because of an ankle injury, completed the scoring and St. John's earned its first national championship in any sport. The Storm had dropped the Big East title game to host Rutgers on penalty kicks, 3-2, after tying 3-3. They won five NCAA Tournament games, defeating Fordham, 5-1, in the first round; George Mason, 2-1, in the second round; William & Mary, 2-1, in overtime in the quarterfinals and Creighton, 2-1, in the semifinals.