By Dylan Butler
If the Big East coaches are right, the St. John’s women’s soccer team will finish fourth in the Northeast Division and, for a third consecutive season, have to play a tournament quarterfinal game on the road against a nationally ranked opponent.
Red Storm coach Ian Stone has other ideas.
“The mentality this year is to not just make the Big East playoffs,” said Stone, who is entering his 10th year at the helm. “Let’s see if we get into first or second place and then we can get home field in the quarterfinals.”
If Stone is right, the Red Storm, which finished 11-6-4 last year and won the ECAC championship, will have an excellent chance of making the NCAA tournament for the first time in school history.
“So far we look pretty talented,” Stone said. “Probably better than last year.”
One reason is the excellent recruiting class, which was ranked No. 6 in the Northeast and 73rd nationally by Soccer Buzz magazine. The jewel of the six player class is University of Kansas transfer Holly Ryder, a physical center midfielder who is one of three high school All-Americans among the newcomers.
“She’s exactly what we needed because we already have the skill and speed around her,” Stone said of Ryder, from Plantation, Fla.
Another high school All-American expected to see immediate playing time is freshman forward/midfielder Natasha Lee, who was the Gatorade New Mexico Player of the Year.
Erinn Flaherty, the final All-American in the recruiting class, Ellen Hartman, Erin Bohn and Cami Katz round out the class.
The newcomers join a solid recruiting group that includes last year’s Big East Rookie of the Year Kaitlin Schmidt.
Schmidt, a sophomore forward from Centereach, L.I., was second on the team in points (26) and goals scored (10) and led the Red Storm with six assists.
“She’s the type of player who makes the players around her better,” Stone said of Schmidt. “She’s going to make good decisions and set people up.”
Also back for the Red Storm is a bulk of its scoring punch from last year, including last year’s leading scorer Dominica Reina, much-improved Erin Henderson and Claudia Rubino.
While three players — senior walk-on Gabriela Frano, sophomore Tracey Rollings and Hartman — are competing for the starting goalkeeping spot vacated by graduated Tina Fogg, Stone is confident in a veteran defensive corp.
The leader in the back four will be Courtney Rhett, a senior central defender who was also third in goals scored last year with four. Also back is sophomore Andrea Coukoulis, Rubino and junior Pristina Alford for the Red Storm, who open the season Friday against Northeastern in the University of Rhode Island tournament in Kingston, R.I.
St. John’s also faces James Madison at URI on Sunday. After taking on Binghamton and Siena on Sept. 5 and 7, the Red Storm starts its first full season at Belson Stadium against Notre Dame, ranked No. 10 in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America’s preseason poll, on Sept. 11.
Reach Associate Sports Editor Dylan Butler by email at TimesLedger@aol.com or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 143.
