St. John’s soccer: Season review following loss to Xavier
St. John’s soccer season ended in Big East Semifinals ahead of an offseason of change.
The St. John’s soccer team saw their season end after a Big East Tournament Semifinal loss to Xavier back on November 3.
After seeing their regular season finale against DePaul canceled due to unforeseen circumstances, the Red Storm went into the Big East Tournament as the No. 3 seed and hosted UConn in the quarterfinals after going 4-2-3 in conference play.
St. John’s would advance on a penalty shootout by a 4-2 scoreline after an Isabelle Aviza goal led to the teams being deadlocked at 1-1 after 110 minutes, setting up a Big East semifinal rematch with Xavier.
In 2021, St. John’s traveled to Cincinnati and came away with a shocking, 1-0 upset victory over the Musketeers to advance to the Big East Championship for the first time since 1994 in that magical run last fall.
History would not repeat itself as Xavier came from behind to win 3-1 in extra time.
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The Red Storm took a 1-0 lead into halftime on a free kick goal by Jessica Garziano in the 22nd minute.
With just 12 minutes to go, Xavier would equalize through Emma Flick before adding two in extra time.
St. John’s really needed another magical run in order to have hopes of making the NCAA Tournament as the loss dashed those dreams.
The Johnnies finished the season with a 7-5-7 (4-2-3 Big East) record.
Despite the heartbreaking loss, defender Katherine Turner and midfielder Melina Couzis were named to the All-Tournament Team.
St. John’s soccer offseason set to undergo key roster changes
The countdown to the 2023 season begins but the Red Storm will be set to look much different next year.
Key players like Brooke Boyd, Kayla Mesaros, Michelle Money, and Turner are set to graduate after successful careers in Queens that led to the program’s first NCAA Sweet 16 appearance.
Garziano, the team’s joint leader in goals and assists, is a senior as well.
Nicole Gordon, who also scored four goals this season, will be the first candidate to step up offensively on a team that needs to improve in that area of the field desperately after scoring just 21 goals as a team, which was good for 7th in the conference.
As much as things change, they will continue to stay the same in Queens as the program announced earlier this week that head coach Ian Stone has been signed to a multi-year extension.
Stone will enter his 30th season at the helm of St. John’s Women’s Soccer in 2023.