St. John’s soccer heading back to normalcy, releases fall schedule

The fall schedule for the St. John’s soccer team has been released. 

The fall 2021 schedule for the St. John’s soccer team as been unveiled as the Red Storm look to recover from a disappointing spring season which was filled by postponements, cancellations, and uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Red Storm finished the Spring 2021 season with a 5-5  (3-5 Big East) record.

However, with a much more normal preseason and schedule this year, the Red Storm hope to replicate something like their 2019 season in their last full year of action.

St. John’s finished with a 14-5-1 record and made the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament the last time the Johnnies were able to have a full season.

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Most of the squad from that excellent 2019 season is still intact, but most of the main contributors are entering their senior year as they try to finish off their Red Storm careers on a positive note.

St. John’s soccer has some intriguing matchups on the docket this fall 

St. John’s will kick-off the new fall season on the road on August 26 against national powerhouse Clemson.

The Tigers were the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament seed this past spring but were shockingly defeated in the Sweet 16 by the eventual National Champions of Marshall University in a penalty shootout.

The Red Storm are also set to take on the Fordham Rams on September 6 at Belson Stadium. St. John’s was set to take on Fordham this past spring, but that meeting was ultimately canceled due to a COVID-19 pause within the Fordham program at the time.

The Rams are led by former St. John’s soccer player Carlo Acquista, who was a member of the Red Storm’s 1996 National Title season.

Acquista enters his third season behind the helm at Fordham coming off of a spring season in which Fordham finished with a 7-1-2 (3-0-2 Atlantic-10) record, clinching the A-10 championship for the fourth time in program history and their fifth ever NCAA Tournament appearance.

Fordham was also defeated by Marshall en route to the title.

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The Johnnies will also be reintroduced to the midwest half of the Big East in league play after the conference was split into a Midwest and East Division to limit travel due to the pandemic.

Marquette was a Top-25 team this past season finishing the spring with an 8-3-2 (5-1-1 Big East) record but fell to the eventual runners up, Indiana, in the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16.

Creighton finished with a 6-6 record this past season and qualified for the four-team Big East Tournament in April as the Bluejays are looking to continue to build its program in a positive direction.

Xavier took a step back this past spring, like the Red Storm, but the Musketeers still have plenty of pieces from their 2019 season where they held a spot in the Top-25 for most of that season.

St. John’s will also have to contend with powerhouse Georgetown, defending Big East champion Seton Hall, UConn, and Providence to round out a tough Big East Conference this fall.