Red Storm Soccer eliminated from Big East Tournament

After blogging quite a bit about intrnational soccer and Major League Soccer, it is time to talk a little bit about a team that is little a bit more local--the St. John's Red Storm.

As the 2006 Big East Tournament Champions, defeating West Virginia 1-0 last year, no one expected that the Red Storm's season would end so early. However, it was somewhat noticable that the Red Storm soccer team of today was different than of last year's victorious team by the way they narrowly past Seton Hall in the first round of this year's Big East tournament only to lose 1-0 to Notre Dame.

In their match against Seton Hall at home, St. John's tied the Pirates 2-2 but managed to sneak into the quarterfinals match-up against Notre Dame with a 3-2 win in penalty kicks.

It was only one goal scored by Notre Dame that made the difference between elimination and a possible repeat run. However, the Red Storm's season may not be over just yet. They may still join the winner of the Big East Championship in the 2007 NCAA Tournament, the first round of which will begin on November 23rd. Hopefully, the Johnnies don't end up playing Maryland again in the second or third round or else they may find themselves elimianted from the national scene just like the past three years. Now, we are just going to have to sit and wait until we find out whether or not the Red Storm will make an appearance in the national college soccer scene.

This was an unexpected and rather unfortunate loss for the Red Storm after they have been unbeaten with a 2-0-1 record in their last three matches against Notre Dame. The last time these two Big East opponents faced off was on November 5, 2005.

Despite the loss, head coach Dr. Dave Masur stated that he was proud of his team's effort and pointed out that Notre Dame was a tough and talented team to play. He also pointed out that both teams played very well with good chances from both teans. However, the Red Storm were outshot 15-2, but the Red Storm goalie managed to make six saves to keep the scoreline tight.

For more information regarding this match, check out this article from Red Storm Sports.