In the toughest conditions St. John’s has faced all season, Rachel Daly etched her name in Red Storm soccer lore by heading in her 18th goal on the season and breaking Cristin Burtis’ 17-goal record mark that dated back to 1994. The goal gave St. John’s the 1-0 lead over Seton Hall and would be enough to give the Red Storm the victory.
“I’m speechless,” said Rachel Daly. “It’s a feeling I thought I would never fell, especially in my first season. But I’m a determined player, so when I hit 13 or 14 goals, I knew the record was 17, and there was no way in my mind that I wouldn’t be able to get the record.”
“They are both eerily similar”, head coach Ian Stone said. “It’s very weird actually. Cristin was a little bit stronger and Rachel is a little quicker. Both of them scored goals in many different ways. It’s just really strange that there has been 20 years between them, but they both did the same thing for their teams, they scored big goals to help us win big games.”
Daly’s goal came when Lara Kristin Pedersen was able to control the ball. Pedersen shot the ball towards Seton Hall keeper Jennifer Pettigrew, her shot bounced off the cross bar and set up Daly perfectly for her record breaking 18th goal in the 73rd minute.
“I put a lot of pressure on myself to perform”, said Daly. “I feel that I play better when I’m under pressure, so the pressure was good for me.” Daly said. “Overall tonight the team helped me to get the goal, and if it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t have gotten the goal tonight.”
“Tremendous”, Stone said. “Absolutely phenomenal. I remember when Cristin Burtis got the record and she was unbelievable. You don’t think it is ever going to happen again. But I have been lucky enough to have both of them. It was just a huge goal ad night for Rachel.”
“I thought my shot was actually going in” said Pedersen. “But it was good that the record and I’m really happy for her. Rachel was prepared, confident and know she would get the record sooner or later.”
On a cold, windy night at Belson Stadium the Red Storm (9-4-3, 3-3-2 Big East) took on the Seton Hall Pirates (5-10-2, 3-5-0 Big East) in a game where both teams needed to win to keep their Big East tournament dreams alive. The Red Storm got the win and the three points they needed in the Big East standings.
Amy Marron had two opportunities and Chelsey Martino had one shot to try and give the Red Storm the lead in the first half but both couldn’t find the back of the net. At the half way mark it was all too familiar sight of late for the Johnnies at home, a 0-0 tie.
Diana Poulin and the St. John’s defense were able to shut out the Pirates offense. This shutout gave the Red Storm their ninth on the season.
St. John’s and Seton Hall played very hard and physically throughout the game. Rachel Daly and Georgia Kearney-Perry were both knocked down and both had to get medical attention on the field.
It was a big win for us tonight versus Seton Hall because they were ahead of us in the Big East standings”, said Coach Stone. “We played well, we played two straight games in a playoff like atmosphere and won and the players are playing as hard as they can.”
The Red Storm will try and put themselves in the Big East tournament in their final regular season game of the season on Nov. 2 against DePaul at Belson Stadium.
“Next week is going to be emotional for us because it’s going to be senior night and we have 12 seniors”, Stone said. “We, as a team are going to have to try and control our emotions and get a good result.
