St. John’s soccer campaign ends in Big East Tournament loss to Providence
On Sunday afternoon, St. John’s soccer team, the No. 5 seed in the Big East Tournament, saw its season end with a 3-1 loss to No. 4 Providence on the road in the opening round.
The Red Storm came into the postseason off back-to-back wins over Marquette and DePaul and playing strong, complete games with clean sheets in both contests. It was is exactly what head coach Ian Stone would want to see going into the postseason, however, those performances could not be replicated.
The two teams met up earlier this season in a thrilling 2-2 draw in Queens on October 8 in which Frederique St. Jean netted a late equalizer with 1:27 remaining to preserve a result.
Providence dominated the game early, outshooting the Red Storm 10-0 in the first half. The Friars would cap off its dominance with a goal from forward Gillian Kenney in the 31st minute.
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Not much changed in the second half as Providence added to its lead with goals in the 59th and 64th minute by midfielder Avery Snead and Kenney’s second goal of the game, respectively.
Midfielder Kyla Gallagher notched a hat trick of assists for Providence.
St. John’s would get a late consolation goal on a penalty kick from leading goalscorer Jessica Garziano in the 89th minute.
The goal was a nice touch for Garziano in what turns out to be her last collegiate game along with several upperclassmen including St. Jean, midfielder Angelina Scoma, and more who made up the Red Storm’s historic run to the Sweet 16 a few seasons ago.
Garziano saved the best for last as her final tally is 10 goals and 11 assists and the graduate student midfielder ends her time at St. John’s as one of the best players in program history after becoming the school’s all-time assist leader with 28 helpers across her five seasons.
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St. John’s will end the season with a 10-6-3 record and a 5-4-1 record in Big East play.
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This season marked the third straight postseason appearance for St. John’s and produced some memorable moments with Ian Stone surpassing the 275 career win mark in his 30th season with the program.
The Red Storm will look to improve upon this season in 2024 but will have a lot of changes with a large part of its core graduating.