March 31, 2008

QUEENS, N.Y. - The St. John's women's soccer team opened up its spring season strong, picking up the 1-0 victory over the New York Athletic Club on Saturday at Belson Stadium.

"It was a great opportunity for us to kind of give our players some experience and have them play different positions," said head women's soccer coach Ian Stone. "On the whole, the effort was very good. It was nice to see Anna Torregiano play a major role in the game. She didn't play in the fall because of an ACL injury and she played very well. It was interesting in that there were obviously a lot of things that we have to work on, but we have come away with some pretty good players."

The Red Storm got its only needed goal in the 25th minute from sophomore Sarah McGrath. Kelly McConnell applied strong defensive pressure that led to MCGrath intercepting a pass and converting on the breakaway.

Continuing with its stingy defensive efforts from the fall that included eight shutouts, St. John's was strong throughout the entire match, limiting NYAC shot selections while holding its opponent scoreless. Goalie Rebecca Capinera recorded the shutout and made key saves to keep the Red Storm in front.

"I thought when we weren't as strong defensively, Rebecca came up and made two very good saves for us and kept us in the game. Despite the fact that we didn't always make great decisions, the girls worked tremendously hard."

The contest allowed the coaching staff to dabble with different lineups and allowed the players to get experience playing different positions.

"I'm happy with the work ethic and the attitude the team has," said Stone. "I think we need to improve tactically and we have to make better decisions. Our attacking and defensive shape needs to be better, but we kind of knew that going in. We just had our first practice after the game this morning in the rain and the girls approached it in the right manner. They recognized that we weren't good enough on Saturday. I'm pretty confident with how hard they are going to work and how much individual attention we'll give them that we will get things taken care of."

The NYAC, which is comprised of former college soccer players, mostly from the Ivy League, gave the team a good challenge in its opening contest.

"They have a lot of experience and they were a good challenge for the team," Stone said. "We attacked them pretty good and, obviously being the first game of the season, that's always challenging enough as it is."

The Red Storm will return to action on Friday when it hosts Monmouth at Belson Stadium at 7 p.m.