By Joseph Staszewski
In Ian Stone’s mind, his St. John’s University’s women’s soccer team’s season could have been over weeks ago.
Instead, the head coach, in his 20th season, saw his squad continue to find ways to keep itself alive down the stretch and thought that trend might continue with his club down a goal at the half to Arkansas in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
“We have been in this position before, where the season could have ended about three or four weeks ago and we just kept finding a way to win,” Stone said.
This time the equalizer was not to be in a 1-0 loss to the Razorbacks Friday night at Duke University. The defeat put an end to the Red Storm’s historic season. They made the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2009 and won the program’s first tournament game by beating UCF 3-1 in the opening round.
“It’s been a whirlwind, honestly, lots of highs, a few lows,” junior defender Georgia Kearney-Perry said. “It’s been amazing.”
The Red Storm was unhappy with how it played in the first half against Arkansas. They thought the game was physical and played more to their opponents’ liking. Still, St. John’s got to halftime scoreless until the Razorbacks’ Claire Kelley struck from 23 yards away in the 42nd minute for the game’s only goal. The score didn’t dishearten the Red Storm.
“To come off the field a goal down it’s hard to come back out,” goalkeeper Diana Poulin said. “I think we did well with that.”
St. John’s (12-6-3) picked up its play after the break. Senior Amy Marron led the Red Storm’s attack with six shots. Arkansas keeper Cameron Carter saved two of her early attempts. Rachel Daly, the nation’s leading goal scorer, missed a bicycle kick with four minutes left to play and Marron had a header go wide in the final minutes.
While this was the end of the road for this particular Red Storm team and strong group of seniors, the team’s core returns for another go at it next year. Daly, Kearney-Perry, Poulin and midfielder Morgan Tinari all return with NCAA Tournament experience.
“I wish we could have taken it further,” Kearney-Perry said. “It’s been a great journey this season. Hopefully, we can do the same and more next season.”
SJU men’s soccer’s season ends in NCAA second round: The Red Storm men’s squad saw its Sweet 16 hopes dashed by No. 8-seeded Virginia 2-0 in the second round Sunday. The loss came after St. John’s topped Delaware 2-1 on Jordan Rouse’s overtime goal in the opening round Nov. 21.
“We knew this was going to be a challenging matchup because Virginia is a tactical and well-coached team that takes advantage of its quickness,” said Red Storm Coach Dr. Dave Masur. “Obviously we are very disappointed to have our season end, but I’m proud of our guys and how hard they fought this year.”
Virginia grabbed a 1-0 lead on a Ryan Zinkham header in the 35th minute and put in the insurance score when Eric Bird headed in a corner kick in the 64th minute. St. John’s’ best chance to score came on a 20-yard shot by Jeni Williams that was saved in the 77th minute.
The Red Storm (11-7-2) reached the NCAA tournament after not qualifying for the Big East postseason play. St. John’s ended the regular season 3-0-1 to help keep its season alive.
“We had a tough stretch in the middle of the season, but they continued to fight and earned some great results down the stretch to help extend our season,” Masur said.
