Red Storm basketball might be the big driver of attention. But while the hoops coaches are working on recruiting Kyle Anderson (which we have covered a lot), and the young team is starting to get in individual practices on campus, there's another early season story - the St. John's soccer team now appears on lists of nationally ranked squads in action.
Head Coach Dr. Dave Masur has a ranked soccer team on his hands. The team earned a #25 ranking nationally from both Soccer America and the National Soccer Coaches of America after defeating #8 William and Mary and Boston University, allowing only 5 shots on goal against the W&M Tribe. The defense allowed no shots on goal against Boston University.
Impressively stingy, though it's still early in the season. Those wins earned defender Connor Lade the Big East's Defensive Player of the Week honor.
The soccer team has a pair of Ivy League opponents coming to Belson Stadium tonight and Sunday. Tonight, the Red Storm face off against the Harvard Crimson at 7:30 pm; and Yale comes to play on Sunday, September 11th. The Yale game is ROTC night and also Military, FDNY, and NYPD appreciation night, appropriately; members of those groups get a free ticket to the game by showing their ID.
Harvard is 1-0-0 on the young season; Yale is 1-1-0, with a loss to Lehigh and a defeat over Central Connecticut. More on the game from Red Storm Sports.