St. John’s women’s soccer starts season at Tennessee

The St. John’s women’s soccer team kicks off the 2018 season with a trip to Knoxville, Tennessee, to take on the #25 Tennessee Volunteers. The game will be streaming on Watch ESPN tonight at 7 PM from Knoxville’s Regal Soccer Stadium as Coach Ian Stone kicks off his 25th season as head coach of the women’s side.

The women’s team was voted seventh in the Big East preseason poll, coming off of a 8-9-1 season that saw the squad miss the Big East Tournament for the first time in four years. The team returns Christina Bellero, who was voted to the all-Big East preseason First Team, and Jordan Kamp in goal.

Other returning starters are forward Lucy Whipp, midfielder Mecara Bruce, midfielder Claudina Cagnina, midfielder Christine McBeath and defensewoman Alexa Dolgos. The Johnnies are also hoping to get scoring efforts from forwards Zsani Kajan and midfielder Maia Cabrera (pictured above).

The Red Storm also have 12 incoming freshman and transfer goalkeeper Meredith Reinhardt, previously at Arizona, new to the program.

Tennessee was 15-4-2 last season, and ended the season ranked #25 with a trip to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Katie Cousins is an All-America midfielder for the Vols, and teammate Khadija Shaw joins her in raking in accolades — the MAC Hermann Trophy preseason watch list and the Top Drawer Soccer Preseason Best XI.

Tonight will be the first-ever meeting between St. John’s and Tennessee.

After tonight’s road trip, the Johnnies return to Belson Stadium for a Monday night home opening matchup against Buffalo.