Twelve seniors on the St. John’s women’s soccer team were honored for their accomplishments and dedication to the program. Rachel Daly had another stellar night as she continued to amaze the fans of St. John’s soccer in breaking another St. John’s season record, the single season points record. The Red Storm came away victorious on the night beating third place DePaul 3-0.
Daly continued to etch her name into the St. John’s record books. Daly scored twice on the night and was credited with an assist as well, as she broke the single-season points record for St. John’s women’s soccer with 43 points on the season. While the season was rewarding, Daly says the seniors played a big role in her first year playing.
“Massive for me,” said Rachel Daly on this team’s senior leadership. “They helped me a lot in understanding the way the American game is played. I think they did a tremendous job as leaders.”
Junior Deanna Murino also found the back of the net, but credits the seniors for the huge role they’ve played on her career as well.
“I think our seniors are a vital part of our team,” said Deanna Murino. “When we look back at games we have won it’s probably because they rallied us together and let us know that we were of doing it. There are twelve seniors on this team and because of that, practices are always intense and hard because they want it so bad. Them wanting to win so badly makes us want to wok harder for them.”
After a season in which St. John’s only won six games, Stone has nothing but praise for the senior crew.
“They have been phenomenal,” said Coach Ian Stone on his senior players. “The class is so well rounded in terms of fantastic students that are great in the community, there are three members of the President’s society in the senior class and they are fantastic soccer players. It really is due to the leaders that we are in this situation now. They really have shown everybody the way and they have worked tremendously hard in practice and are tremendous people. You could see how much they mean to us by how hard we played for them. I’m going to miss those who are leaving but hopefully we sent them off in the right fashion tonight.”
In Daly’s last two matches she has broken two single season records held by Cristin Burtis. The two records that were broken were the single-season points record and single-season goal record.
“She changes the game,” said Stone. “We have a great team and have for the last couple of years, but haven’t been able to always put the ball in the back of the net. She just takes so much pressure off of us, like tonight she had a big goal in the first half. She was like the missing piece to the puzzle because the rest of the pieces were already in place. Seeing her being able to consistently score goals against the conference pushes us over the top from turning ties or 1-0 losses into wins.”
In a matchup of two of the top players in the nation on both sides of the ball, Rachel Daly on offense and Alejandria Godinez in the net, The St. John’s Red Storm (10-4-3, 4-3-2 Big East) took on the DePaul Blue Demons (11-4-2, 5-3-1 Big East) in the final game of the regular season for both squads.
Rachel Daly added to her single-season goal record and to her lead over former St. John’s great Cristin Burtis with her 19th goal on the season in the first-half. Setting up Daly perfectly, sophomore Emily Cubbage was credited with the assist on the goal. Daly would again find the back of the net in the 68th minute, as she was assisted by a long pass from Miranda Haraughty.
To open up the second half, only 48 seconds in, junior Deanna Murino scored her second goal on the season with a booming strike to left corner of the net, beating one of the goalies in the nation, Alejandria Godinez. Rachel Daly was credited with the assist on the Murino goal.
The St. John’s defense shut down the Blue Devils offense on the night leading to the team’s eighth shutout on the season.
With the win the Red Storm clinched a home game in the first round Big East Tournament, their opponent will be the Butler Bulldogs. The Bulldogs and Red Storm faced each other on Oct. 6th in Indianapolis, with the Bulldogs beating the Red Storm, 2-1 in overtime.
“To me I think we deserve to be one of the top four seeds in the Big East tournament,” said Stone. “Obviously we had a bit of a rocky spell a few games ago where we put ourselves into a bit of a hole, so it was lovely to come out of that with three straight victories and clinch home field In the Big East Quarterfinals.”
