St. John's University Athletics
Red Storm Mens Soccer Retains #1 National Ranking
10/29/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
St. Johns, which has been ranked No. 1 by at least one of four national polls for four weeks running now, beat Connecticut 1-0 on Friday night, and tied Long Island, 1-1, on Saturday night, capturing the team championship at the Daly Worldwide Communication Classic. It was the third team tournament title this season for St. Johns, which won an earlier Daly Worldwide Communications Classic in September (beating Florida International and Indiana), and then won the Rutgers Classic (beating Old Dominion and tying UCLA).
The Red Storm, who are ranked first in the New York Region, also stand in first place in the BIG EAST Conference with a 7-1-1 league mark. They travel to Georgetown this weekend, playing on Saturday at 1 p.m. A win would give the team its 11th BIG EAST Championship (combined regular season and postseason) in the last 11 years. The win over Connecticut on Friday night improved St. Johns record against nationally-ranked teams to 4-0-2.
The team has been led, as usual, by a stingy defense. St. Johns has allowed only six goals all season, and two were own goals, for a goals against average of 0.36, which ranks first nationally. In Saturday nights match, Long Island took a 1-0 lead midway through the first half, marking only the second time all season that St. Johns had trailed in a match. St. Johns has recorded 11 shutouts this season, and leads the country with a 0.71 shutout percentage.
That defensive unit has been led by junior Chris Wingert (Babylon, N.Y.), a team captain who is an All-American and Hermann Trophy Candidate (for national player of the year honors). Junior goalkeeper Bill Gaudette (Hummelstown, Pa.) carries a 0.37 goals against average, carrying an 11-1-4 record.
On offense, the Red Storm has had several players step to the plate, including senior defender Rich Bradley (Bayport, N.Y.), who leads the team in scoring with four goals and five assist for 13 points. Sophomore Chris Corcoran (Marshfield, Mass.) has scored a team-best five goals and added three assists for 13 points, while classmate Andre Schmid (Sacramento, Calif.) has five goals and two assists for 12 points.
The Red Storm (11-1-4, 7-1-1) play on Saturday at Georgetown at 1 p.m.