By Dylan Butler
Only in the Big East.
Where else can a team lose in the NCAA semifinals and the following season not even be the favorite to win its conference tournament?
That is the case for the St. John’s men’s soccer team, which went 17-3-3 and dropped a 2-1 double overtime decision to Indiana in the NCAA semifinals.
Instead of being the favorite to win their seventh Big East tournament title, the Red Storm, ranked No. 3 in the country in the preseason polls, are behind bitter rival Connecticut in the preseason coaches poll.
The Huskies return much of last year’s team and have assembled one of the best recruiting classes in the country.
“The Big East Conference is one of the premier soccer leagues in the country, so we need to establish a commitment to learning and growing from the start,” St. John’s head coach Dave Masur said. “On top of that, we play one of the toughest schedules in the country, so there will be little room for error. It’s a challenge every year, but we feel confident that the players are ready to make that commitment and reach our goals.”
Adding to the excitement of contending for a national championship is the fact the Red Storm will finally move into its new home 2,300-seat on-campus home in Belson Stadium. Both the men and women’s soccer teams will play its home games on the FieldTurf surface.
Masur has always preached about the strength of the Big East, touting it as one of the, if not the, top conference in the country. Judging by the recently released preseason rankings, it’s hard to argue against the Big East.
Three teams (St. John’s, No. 6 Connecticut and seventh ranked Rutgers) are in the top seven in the country while Boston College (No. 18) and Syracuse (No. 23) are also in the top 25. Notre Dame, Seton Hall and Georgetown should also be extremely tough this year.
The Red Storm, ranked behind Indiana and Stanford, return eight starters from last year’s team. But two of the players who are gone — All-Americans Jeff Matteo and Shalrie Joseph — leave a huge void in the midfield.
The duo, who were each selected in the Major League Soccer SuperDraft, combined for 16 goals and nine assists for 41 points, 34.5 percent of the team’s points.
But more important than the number of goals the Red Storm’s emotional leaders scored was the timeliness of their strikes.
In the postseason, Joseph scored the game-winning goal in four of the Red Storm’s final seven games, while Matteo netted the lone St. John’s goal in the NCAA semifinals.
“Each year brings new challenges and this year will be no different,” Masur said. “We lost two very important players, guys who were instrumental in guiding our team on the field, so we’re going to be expecting a lot from everyone this year.”
Sophomore Chris Corcoran should provide some of the creativity and leadership in the midfield. Corcoran, who started all but one game for the Red Storm last year and scored the game-winner at Southern Methodist University in the NCAA quarterfinals, is coming off a solid summer. The Marshfield, Mass. native led the Cape Cod Crusaders to the Premier Development League championship.
Others who should play a factor in the center of the park are juniors Simone Salinno, Chris Bennice and sophomore Matt Groenwald.
The strength of this St. John’s squad is the staple of any Dave Masur-coached team, a tough, stingy defense. Leading the backline is Chris Wingert, the Big East Preseason Defensive Player of the Year and a starter on the United States Under-23 national team.
The junior center back from Babylon — the only Red Storm player on the preseason all-conference team — will be joined by a healthy Rich Bradley and Matia Damiani as well as senior leaders Pat Lonergan and Alberto Duenas, each regular starters last year.
Bradley, a strong and heady senior defender, returns to St. John’s after missing all but two games last year due to injury while Damiani, a senior from Foggia, Italy, was a fixture in the starting lineup the last two seasons when not sidelined by injury. The two might also see time in the midfield.
Senior goalkeeper Guy Hertz, who won all 17 games last year for St. John’s while posting a 0.59 goals against average, and junior Billy Gaudette, who missed last year with a foot injury, should battle for time between the pipes.
“We have a couple of real good goalkeepers, which is always extremely important,” Wingert said. “Pat and Alberto and hopefully myself are all a year older and a year better so we all have confidence back there.”
Back for the Red Storm up front is junior Angel Rodriguez, who may also see some time in the midfield. The explosive Rodriguez, who is especially dangerous at set pieces, was second on the Red Storm in scoring with eight goals and two assists for 18 points.
If sophomores Andre Schmid and John Carrozza can finish on a consistent basis, they too can prove to be dangerous forwards.
Of course Saturday’s opener can find any number of players in different positions. It appears only the goalkeepers and possibly Wingert have their positions locked down.
“It’s definitely good to have so many versatile guys, but all the credit has to go to coach [Masur],” Wingert said. “Even though some guys on the team might not see themselves as versatile, he does. We leave all the decisions to him, we all have faith in him.”
The recruiting class, ranked 35th by College Soccer News, is led by freshmen Jean Camere and Mark Futrell. Camere, a forward/midfielder from Gulliver Prep in Miami, is a native of Venezuela, while Futrell, from Sugerland, Tex. was a member of the United States Under-16 National Team and was a 2002 National Soccer Coaches Association of America high school All-American.
The schedule, as usual, is first class for St. John’s. In addition to its Big East conference slate — which starts at Boston College — the Red Storm will play some of the top non-conference schedules in the country.
After the Boston College game, the Red Storm hosts a Belson Stadium-opening tournament on Sept. 6 and 7, with some of the top names in college soccer. In addition to Florida International University and William and Mary, the preseason top-ranked team in the country, Indiana, will make their first ever trip to Jamaica, Queens.
St. John’s takes on the Hoosiers in the tournament finale, Sept. 7, at 8 p.m. after facing FIU, the team the Red Storm defeated to win its only national championship in 1996, at 8 p.m. on Sept. 6.
St. John’s will also host Wake Forest and locals Adelphi and Long Island University while also playing national powerhouses Old Dominion University and UCLA, preseason ranked No. 13, in the Rutgers Classic on Oct. 4 and 6.
Reach Associate Sports Editor Dylan Butler by email at TimesLedger@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 143.
