By Five Boro Sports
Tara Mendoza could have spent the summer at the beach, soaking in the sun and relaxing with friends. Instead, the senior on the St. John’s women’s soccer team trained every day with the Long Island Fury.
While she and Red Storm teammate Sarah McGrath helped lead the Fury to the Women’s Premier Soccer League national championship, her thoughts were constantly on her senior year at St. John’s.
“The summer is always a build-up to the season, but there is a very positive attitude, a healthy arrogance this year,” said the versatile Mendoza, who can play as a defensive midfielder, a central defender or an outside back. “It’s a great environment to be in.”
The same was true with Kelly McDonnell and the other five St. John’s players on the Long Island Rough Riders in the W-League.
“We’re all really excited,” said McConnell, a senior forward. “It’s all we’ve been talking about in our summer leagues.”
This summer 13 Red Storm players competed in the two leagues, while four incoming freshmen were playing with their club teams.
It’s that sort of commitment that makes Ian Stone excited about the upcoming season — his 16th as Red Storm coach.
“We’ve hit the ground running in the preseason instead of spending the first two weeks working on fitness,” Stone said. “Now we’re jelling the team together.”
With his team’s fitness level coming into preseason at an all-time high, Stone has been able to start at an advanced level. Mendoza and McConnell are two of 16 seniors on the Red Storm roster. It is not only one of Stone’s largest senior classes, but it is also arguably his best.
“Naturally, their experience helps a lot,” Stone said. “But they’re so much better tactically now — probably better than any other group.”
Included in that group is speedy Tatiana Duggan, who has impressed Stone in preseason after playing for the Connecticut Reds in the WPSL.
“She’s come in tremendously fit,” Stone said. “Now she’s a fantastic athlete.”
The same is true of McConnell, who Stone said, “is playing really well, better than ever. She has been sharper, quicker and has a greater soccer brain.”
While the Red Storm set a school record with 10 shutouts last season, Stone believes the team was too predictable in the offensive third. As a result, St. John’s, which finished with an 8-6-5 record, averaged 1.46 goals per game.
This year, though, St. John’s is mixing it up. In a scoreless scrimmage against Stony Brook Monday night at Belson Stadium, Stone used three different formations — 4-4-2, 4-3-3 and 3-4-3 — in the three, 35-minute periods.
While they failed to find the back of the net, St. John’s did create numerous chances from a variety of players.
“I think we have a few different dimensions we didn’t have last year,” Stone said. “If we stay healthy, we should be able to change things up, depending on what the other team is doing.”
While Stone said the goal is to finish in the top three of the Big East American Division — the team was picked to finish fourth by the conference coaches in a preseason poll — the Red Storm have a loftier goal: to make the NCAA tournament for the first time in program history.
With that in mind, Stone has assembled what he calls the most challenging non-conference schedule ever, which begins Aug. 28 with a road game against Cal State Fullerton and continues two days later against a USC squad that played in the NCAA tournament last year.
