The announcement on ESPNews took about 16 minutes, but it was 16 years in the making for St. John’s women’s soccer coach Ian Stone. The Red Storm earned its first bid to the NCAA tournament in program history Monday night, one of seven Big East teams to compete in the 64-team field.
“It’s more difficult to get into the NCAA tournament than to stay in it,” Stone said. “Hopefully now it puts us on the national map and hopefully makes some big-time recruits consider us, which they might not have done before. From an emotional point of view, these girls really deserved it. They’ve worked so hard.”
St. John’s will meet Virginia Friday at Penn State University in the opening round of UCLA bracket. The winner faces either No. 4 Penn State or Colgate on Sunday in Happy Valley, Pa.
“It’s just nice to see that all the hard work that we put in, our coaches, everybody, is paying off,” said defender Tara Mendoza, one of 16 seniors on the St. John’s roster. “I think we really deserve it.”
The players gathered in the Carnesecca Arena lobby to watch the Selection Show and even though the team had never been invited to the Big Dance, they were supremely confident. In fact, their reaction was rather anticlimactic when they learned they had made the tournament. After initial screams and cheers, the players went about their business as if they’d been there before.
C.J. Ludemann, a transfer from Duke, in fact, has. The senior midfielder is making her third trip to the tournament.
“It gets better every time,” Ludemann said. “The tournament is the best part of the year. It’s like Christmas for me.”
In the greatest season in program history, St. John’s (13-6-1) defeated three top-25 teams and had an RPI of 34. It appeared the Red Storm had done enough to earn a berth after beating Georgetown in double overtime in the Big East quarterfinals. But Stone thinks a solid performance in a 2-1 overtime loss to No. 4 Notre Dame in a nationally-televised Big East semifinal at the University of Connecticut Friday night sealed the deal.
“I think we deserved it,” Stone said. “I think we’ve done enough over the course of the season and I think the timing of the good performance against Notre Dame was probably helpful as well.”
Also making the NCAA tournament from the Big East is Notre Dame, Rutgers, Villanova, Connecticut, West Virginia and Marquette.
The Red Storm has never faced Virginia (9-5-5), a team that plays a similar possession style as St. John’s. Mendoza can’t name any of the Cavaliers players, but that matters little right now.
“I don’t even care, because whoever is going to play against us it’s going to be a tough battle,” Mendoza said. “We’re going to fight hard and hopefully we’re going to win.”
Stone is also confident that the Red Storm has greater aspirations than just making the NCAA tournament.
“These girls are such competitors, they ain’t happy with just getting to the first round,” Stone said. “They actually set a goal last year of making it to the Sweet Sixteen, which at the time was a bit lofty.”