St. John's University Athletics
St. John's to Host NCAA Tournament First Round
11/9/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
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NCAA Release
NCAA Tournament Bracket
QUEENS, N.Y. - For the third time in program history, the Red Storm is heading to the NCAA Tournament.
The Red Storm will host the Terriers of Boston University at 7 p.m. on Saturday, November 14.
This is the first time in the history of St. John's Women's Soccer that an NCAA Tournament match will be held at Belson Stadium.
"For us to be rewarded for our body of work, to be able to get a home game is huge for program and shows the respect that we're getting nationally," said Head Coach Ian Stone after the selection.
"I think it's significant because of the fantastic seniors that we have, giving them another opportunity to play on Belson," continued Stone on the importance of playing a home game in the NCAA Tournament. "I think they deserve it because they have really taken our program to a whole different level from when they came in to where we are now. It kind of seems fitting that they get to play another game on Belson."
The Red Storm secured its bid thanks to the most successful regular season in school history. St. John's won a school-record 15 games, including seven in BIG EAST play to secure the program's first-ever regular season conference title.
St. John's took home four of the conference's six major awards, as Rachel Daly was the unanimous BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Year, Georgia Kearney-Perry was the BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year, Diana Poulin earned BIG EAST Goalkeeper of the Year honors and Stone led the BIG EAST Coaching Staff of the Year. 2015 marked only the third time in BIG EAST history that a single team took home four out of the six major awards, as Notre Dame accomplished the feat twice in 2005 and 2008.
Kearney-Perry and Poulin both made it two years in a row as the most dominant players at their respective positions, marking only the second time in over 20 years of BIG EAST action that teammates have repeated as major award winners. Kerry Connors and Sara Whelan of Connecticut won in both 1995 and 1996.
Daly, Kearney-Perry and Poulin were all named to the All-BIG EAST First Team. Daly and Kearney-Perry found spots on the all-conference first team for the third-straight season, while Poulin enjoyed her second-straight selection. Poulin was also named to the All-BIG EAST Third Team as a freshman in 2013.
In addition to these major awards, Emily Cubbage found a spot on the All-BIG EAST Second Team, while Lucy Whipp and Anna Maria Baldursdottir garnered BIG EAST All-Freshmen accolades.
This will be the Red Storm's third trip to the NCAA Tournament, as the 2009 and 2013 squads also earned bids to the field of 64. In 2009, Virginia advanced in a penalty shootout after 110 scoreless minutes. Four years later, the Red Storm recorded the program's first-ever NCAA Tournament victory over UCF, 3-1, in the opening round before falling to Arkansas, 1-0, in the second round.
