St. John's University Athletics
Women's Soccer Makes History With First NCAA Bid
11/9/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
Nov. 9, 2009
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QUEENS, N.Y. - In a season filled with milestones, the 2009 St. John's women's soccer team has made history once again, as it earned its first-ever NCAA Tournament bid in the program's 23rd year of existence. The Red Storm will face Virginia at 5 p.m. on Friday at Jeffrey Field on the campus of Penn State.
"I can't even express how excited I am for the girls," head coach Ian Stone said. "They have worked so hard to get here. The team really came together and persevered through some tough games for wins. We are going to work extremely hard in practice all week to get ready for this."
The Red Storm and the Cavaliers meet for the first time in history on Friday. St. John's enters the contest with a 13-6-1 overall record, while Virginia has a 9-5-5 slate in 2009. With a victory on Friday, the Red Storm would face the winner of the Penn State-Colgate game on Sunday. Penn State (12-5-2) is the No. 4 seed in the UCLA Region. STJ has never faced the Nittany Lions, while Colgate (11-6-3) won the only meeting in history with the Red Storm, 4-1, on Sept. 9, 2005.
St. John's is one of seven BIG EAST teams to make the field of 64, which includes Rutgers, West Virginia, Marquette, Notre Dame, Villanova and UConn. The seven bids tie for the second most in league history.
The 2009 campaign is arguably one of the best in program history for St. John's. The team advanced to the BIG EAST Semifinals for only the second time ever, facing Notre Dame last Friday. The Red Storm scored its first goal in history against the Irish in the 2-1 overtime loss, which also marked the first goal Notre Dame gave up in a semifinal game since 2003.
The Red Storm recorded three Top 25 victories this season, nabbing 2-1 victories over then-No. 12 USC on Aug. 30 and then-No. 12 Indiana on Sept. 13, and posting a 1-0 win over then-No. 16 UConn on Sept. 24. The team earned its first-ever ranking in the NSCAA Top 25 Poll, eventually rising to No. 17, and earned its highest ranking ever in the Soccer America Poll at No. 11.
St. John's tied program records with six BIG EAST wins and eight home victories, and recorded the second most wins in a season with 13 while tying for second all-time with nine shutouts.