St. John's University Athletics
Women's Soccer Looks for Third Straight Win
9/6/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
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Sept. 6, 2005
Queens, NY -St. John's looks for its third straight win and first home win of the year. The Red Storm (2-1-0) collides with the Bulldogs from Yale (0-2-0). St. John's won the Columbia University tournament this past weekend, defeating Bucknell (2-1) and Quinnipiac (2-0). Meanwhile, the Bulldogs dropped two games in the Carolina Nike Classic last weekend, losing to Duke (1-0) and North Carolina (1-0).
The Series: St. John's leads the series 1-0. The two squads met almost six years ago in New Haven, CT. The Red Storm won the match 2-0.
2005 Schedule: Columbia University Tournament- St. John's is coming off back to back wins at the Columbia University Tournament. The Red Storm captured the tournament title, defeating Bucknell (2-1), Friday September 2, and Quinnipiac in the championship game (2-0), on Sunday, Sept. 4.
During the championship game, the Red Storm scored twice in the first three minutes of the second half. Senior Kaitlin Schmidt (Centerreach, NY) scored off an assist from senior Holly Ryder (Plantation, FL). A minute later, junior Natasha Lee (Albuquerque, NM) was fouled hard by a Quinnipiac player to set up a successful penalty kick for Erin Henderson (Watervliet, NY). The Red Storm out-played Quinnipiac both offensively and defensively. St. John's took 18 shots in the game- 13 in the first half- while the defense only allowed the Bobcats to take six shots in the entire match.
Henderson won the tournament's Most Valuable Player Award and was also selected to the All-Tournament team. Three other St. John's players were also selected to the All-Tournament team: Ryder, freshman Jacklyn James (Flushing NY) and freshman Brittany Cavarra (Littleton, CO).
In Friday's match against Bucknell, the Bobcats scored just three minutes and thirty seconds into the contest. But the Red Storm rebounded and scored twice in the first half for the win. Cavarra found senior Lauren McGrory (Hauppauge, NY) on the doorstep to tie the game at one. St. John's gained the lead when sophomore Julianna Cohen (Merrick, NY) connected on a free kick.
Belson Stadium: Tonight the Red Storm looks for its first win at home this season. In the season opener, St. John's fell to Marist, 1-0, in overtime. Despite the loss, the Red Storm led the Red Foxes 12 to 8 in shots and 6 to 2 in corner kicks.
Scouting Yale: The Yale Bulldogs (0-2-0) play their third game of the season tonight. Yale is coming off two losses this past weekend down in Chapel Hill, NC in the Carolina Classic Tournament. The Bulldogs fell to No. 12 Duke (1-0) and No. 2 North Carolina (1-0). Last year, Yale posted a 13-5-0 overall record and made it to the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
The Bulldogs are coached by Rudy Meredith , who is the winningest coach in school history with a 104-65 mark and is in his 11th season at the helm. He is a two-time Northeast Region Coach of the Year and coached the Bulldogs to the NCAA Tournament in both 2002 and 2004. Before becoming head coach, Meredith served as an assistant at Yale for three years. He is a graduate of Southern Connecticut State where he was also a member of the 1992 Division II national championship team.
Returning Players: The Bulldogs return 14 letterwinners from last year's squad, including seven starters, two of which were first team All-Ivy selections. On the offensive side, every player that scored a point last year returns. This includes senior Laurel Karnes (Omaha, NE) is sixth in Yale history with 23 career goals and was tied for the team lead last season. Meanwhile, junior Mimi Macauley (Wilton, CT) earned honorable mention All-Ivy recognition last year and led the Bulldogs in scoring with 18 points.
On the defensive end, senior captain Eleni Benson (Willington, CT) and junior Christina Huang (Potomac, MD) allowed only 15 goals and recorded nine shutouts last year. Benson was awarded honorable mention All-Ivy last year and competed for the Greece nation team in the 2004 Olympics. Huang was a first team All-Ivy selection and was also named first ream all-region by both the National Soccer Coaches of America Association and Soccerbuzz.com.
New Faces: Yale welcomes seven freshmen to the team. Maggie Westfal (New Canaan, CT) was the 2004 Connecticut Player of the Year at New Canaan High School and will be on offense. Meanwhile, Natasha Mann (Chevy Chase, MD) was an all-state selection and her club team, Bethesda Excel under-18, played for the national championship this past summer. Hayley Zevenbergen (Woodway, WA) was a two-time all-league, all-area selection. Both Mann and Zevenbergen will play defense.
Coach Ian Stone : Ian Stone begins his 12th season as the head women's soccer coach at St. John's. In 2004, he became the only St. John's women's coach to surpass the 100-win plateau, and he now owns a 101-90-17 overall record. In more than a decade at the helm of the Red Storm women's soccer program, Stone boasts several achievements, most notably, the 1994 BIG EAST Championship title. His teams have qualified for the BIG EAST tournament in each of the last four seasons and were crowned 2002 ECAC Champions.
Lee named to Preseason All- BIG EAST Team: Junior forward Natasha Lee (Albuquerque, NM) was named to the BIG EAST's Preseason All-Conference team earlier this month. Lee led the Red Storm last season with six goals and finished second on the team in points with 12. The aggressive attacker took a team-high 58 shots on the season and finished tied for first with two game-winning goals.
Some Notable Opponents: St. John's will face two opponents who are listed on Soccer America's Women's Preseason Top 25 poll. The 2004 BIG EAST Tournament Champion Connecticut is No. 9 on the poll, after finishing with an 18-7-1 overall record last year. The Red Storm hosts the Huskies at Belson Stadium on Sunday, October 9 at 1 p.m. After posting a 15-6-0 record last season, West Virginia sits at No. 15 in the poll. The Red Storm will travel to Morgantown, WV to face the Mountaineers on Sunday September 25.
Meet the Newcomers: New to the Red Storm in 2005 are three talented freshmen, Rebecca Capinera , Brittany Cavarra and Jacklyn James . Capinera was a four-year letter-winner at Watertown High School, where she captained her team as a senior. She earned MVP honors for three-straight seasons and was named second team all-state as a junior and as a senior. For her career, she posted 26 shutouts and 840 saves.
Cavarra played three years of varsity soccer at J.K. Mullen High School in Denver, CO. before transferring to Arapahoe as a senior. She led Arapahoe to the State Championship game and earned second team all-state honors as a senior. She tallied 20 goals and 39 assists in four seasons.
James, a local product from Flushing, NY, completed a four-year varsity career at St. Francis Prep High School. As a senior, she captained the team to the Catholic High School AA Championship. James played for the Eastern New York ODP team for six years, including one year under Redstorm head coach Ian Stone . James is the sister of former Red Storm men's soccer player Dennis James, who played for Coach Dave Masur from 1997-99.
Looking for No. 5 : The Red Storm has made four straight appearances in the BIG EAST Tournament, and is looking to top that unprecedented mark with number five. Last year's senior class was the first class in school history to qualify for the conference quarterfinals in each of their four seasons. This year's senior class has also seen tournament action, and looks to continue down the road their predecessors took. In each of the four previous years, the Red Storm has bowed out in the quarterfinals of the BIG EAST Tournament, last season losing to Notre Dame, the eventual National Champion.
Stone Names 2005 Captains: St. John's University women's soccer head coach Ian Stone has announced his captains for the 2005 soccer season. Three seniors, Andrea Coukoulis, Erin Henderson and Kaitlin Schmidt , have been designated to lead the team in its quest for a BIG EAST Championship.
Coukoulis, a defender from Scottsdale, AZ, guided the Red Storm defense as the center fullback during her freshman and sophomore seasons, and moved to sweeper as a junior, where she led the defense to five shutout victories in 200. Her defensive efforts have been recognized, as she was named the Most Valuable Player of the St. John's Women's Soccer NYC Nike Classic after leading the Red Storm to back-to-back shutout wins en route to the tournament title.
Henderson will return to the field in 2005 after missing most of the 2004 season with a knee injury. The midfielder from Watervliet, NY, made an impact in her few appearances last year, recording one goal and two assists in the first seven games of the season. She was named the Most Valuable Player of the BAE Systems Army Classic in 2004 after scoring one goal and two assists in the Championship round against Army and was also named to the All-Tournament team at the Red Storm's tournament after two solid performances against LIU and Wagner. Last year, she battled through injuries all season and finished the year with four goals, including the game-winner in the postseason-clinching win against Providence.
Schmidt has earned several regional honors and in 2002, was named to SoccerBuzz Freshman All-America Second Team. She is a BIG EAST Academic All-Star and is on the St. John's Athletic Director's Honor Roll, is a member of the National Dean's List and is a Dean's Scholar.
Red Storm Picked Fifth in BIG EAST's A Division: St. John's, which finished eighth in the league last season, was tabbed to finish fifth in Division A in a poll voted on by the league's head coaches. The Red Storm finished with a 10-9-1 overall record last season and is looking to make its record-breaking fifth straight appearance in the BIG EAST Tournament in 2005. Connecticut, the 2004 BIG EAST Tournament champion, was selected to win Division A with 13 votes and was followed by West Virginia (3), Syracuse, Marquette, St. John's, Pittsburgh, South Florida and Providence. Defending national champion Notre Dame earned 15 votes to earn the top spot in Division B, while Villanova earned one vote and was picked second.
BIG EAST is Biggest Conference in 2005: This season, the BIG EAST conference expanded to 16 teams for women's soccer, making it the largest conference in the nation. New for 2005 are Cincinnati, DePaul, Louisville, Marquette and South Florida. Ten teams will qualify for the BIG EAST Championships, five from each division, with the top three teams from each side earning a bye directly into the quarterfinals.
