St. John’s Women’s Soccer 2024 Season Preview

How will the Red Storm look in the post-Garziano era? Thomas Cavanagh spoke with head coach Ian Stone ahead of Sunday’s season opener versus Colgate (1 p.m., FloSports)

Roster turnover is a fact of life for every college soccer program, but there are few teams over the last year that were impacted by attrition through graduation more than St. John’s women’s soccer.

Much of last season’s senior and graduate student class was instrumental in carrying the team to their first Round of 16 appearance in program history back in 2021. Players like Nicole Gordon, Frederique St.-Jean, Ava Collins, Isabelle Aviza, and Katherine Turner provided consistent quality and set the culture for the program’s most successful period since the days of Rachel Daly.

However, no departing player was as impactful as Jessica Garziano, who leaves Queens as a bonafide program legend. Amongst myriad accolades, Garziano was a United Soccer Coaches Second Team All-American in 2023, one of three St. John’s players to ever make an All-Big East team four times, the first St. John’s player to ever record double-digit goals and assists in a single season, and the all-time career assists leader in St. John’s women’s soccer history.

The 2023 team finished on the cusp of reaching the NCAA tournament, finishing with a record of 10-6-3 (W-L-D), plus a solid conference record of 5-4-1.

Now, the program is entering a new era. Twelve freshmen and three transfers joined the team. Secondary contributors last season will become key playmakers and some reserves will become first-teamers in 2024.

Long-time head coach Ian Stone is no stranger to roster overhauls, as he begins his 31st season of coaching the Red Storm on Sunday afternoon when St. John’s takes on Colgate at Belson Stadium (1 p.m., FloSports). He is confident in the talent arriving in Queens, but he acknowledges that managing a transformed roster never gets easier.

“It’s very much day-to-day in terms of building consistency,” Stone told Rumble in a phone interview in regards to the team’s performance in training, “We have a bunch of talent, we recruited the right people, but the difficult thing is trying to gel them together as a team, bearing in mind that we lost some excellent players and really strong leaders to graduation.”

Stone believes in the talent on this team, but the same cannot be said for other coaches in the league. Last week, the Big East released the women’s soccer preseason coaches poll. The league’s coaches picked St. John’s to finish sixth in the conference with no first-place votes, and zero players were selected to the preseason all-conference team.

“I don’t think people recognize or respect the players we’ve got coming in. There were a bunch of current sophomores that had really strong spring seasons last year,” Stone said, “This is a very, very deep and athletic group that came back really fit. I’m obviously cognizant of the fact that we’re young and inexperienced, but if we can get that figured out, we’re going to shock a few people that ranked us lower.”

Forwards

If there is an X-factor on this new look St. John’s team, it will be the top returning scorer for the Red Storm in senior Lauryn Tran. The Calgary native was one of the best playmakers in the conference last season, scoring four goals and tallying six assists, ranking second among Big East players in the latter category last season. During summer training, it appears she’s adding another dimension to her game in goalscoring.

“Lauryn is playing the best soccer I’ve seen her play right now. We played an intrasquad game on Thursday, and she hit this rocket from 20 yards with her left foot into the top corner,” Stone said about Tran, “I haven’t really seen that from here before. She was always a great creator for us, and now I’m looking forward to her being a great finisher, too.”

Jordyn Levy, who transferred from Indiana last season, was one of the players who served more as an extra than as one in a lead role, coming off the bench in nine of 19 games last season. The former Indiana transfer still made her presence felt, finishing tied for second on the team with four goals. Ian Stone has seen noticeable improvement from Levy and believes she can become a focal point in the attack in 2024.

“[Levy’s] the type of player that relishes that opportunity because she wants to be in front of the net, racking up goals and assists,” said Stone.

Rockville Center native and freshman Nora Basile made a strong impression on Ian Stone during training camp, and expects her to be an instant contributor.

“Pretty complete forward that’s good with her back to goal, good speed, good creativity, good passer, good finisher, really good in the air. [Basile] may even jump in the starting lineup right from the get-go on Sunday,” said Stone.

Midfield

Emily Riggins is a player Ian Stone described as a Swiss Army knife. Name a position on the field, and she could play it comfortably. Stone says the only other player he coached that was as positionally versatile was Rachel Daly.

“[Emily] brings the energy; she has one of the highest fitness testing scores on the team,” Stone said, “I would see Emily as a box-to-box midfielder who can win balls in the air, but one who can also distribute well and get forward into the attack.”

Riggins made ten starts while playing in 18 games for the Red Storm last season, logging two assists and recording a career-high 1,016 minutes played. This past April, TopDrawerSoccer.com’s Victor Olorunfemi named Riggins a 2024 Women’s Big East Breakout candidate.

Jailene De Jesus is another senior leader returning this season. Last year, De Jesus tallied two goals—both were game-winners—along with two assists, starting in 14 of the 19 games she played. This winter, De Jesus scored twice in as many appearances for the Puerto Rican national women’s soccer team during the 2024 CONCACAF Women’s Gold Gup.

“She’s one of our main playmakers, and she’s improved her ability to play with both feet,” Stone said of De Jesus. “She sees the pitch well, can play a great pass, and in attack, can pop up in the penalty area unexpectedly and score.”

Defense

After the team lost a small army of veteran leaders, Stone is grateful for the culture-setting guidance of senior midfielder Athina Sofroniou.

“[Athina’s] been a rockstar in terms of bringing the team together,” Stone said of Sofroniou, “If we’re integrated by Sunday, it’s because of more than anyone else.”

The Dix Hill native started all 19 games for the Red Storm last season, tallying 1,553 minutes of play and becoming the first St. John’s player to win the Big East Defensive Player of the Week award since Jesse Schaefer in 2017. Sofroniou is very comfortable organizing from the back and playing with the ball at her feet as a center back. Stone says he hopes he can utilize Sofroniou in the midfield.

Freshman center back Freya Meadows-Tuson is expected to start next to Sofroniou at center back. The Reading, England native played for her hometown club, Reading FC, in England’s Women’s Championship, the second division of English women’s soccer, then transferred to Maidenhead United for a brief spell last January.

Sophomores Reese Dunaway and Abby Fitzmaurice are expected to get larger roles at the full-back position.

Nicole Multer is the only player on this year’s roster to enter her fifth season playing for the Red Storm. Last season, Multer made 12 starts and appeared in all 19 games for St. John’s, logging a full 90 minutes for five straight games back in October.

“[Multer’s] more of a quiet type of leader as far as everyone respects,” Stone said, “She provides a great deal of experience and veteran leadership.”

Multer is dealing with a knee injury and likely won’t be able to start, but she will be available in Sunday’s game against Colgate.

Goalkeeping

After Maria O’Sullivan patrolled the Red Storm’s box for all but one game last season, there will be a new goalkeeper in 2024. Louisville transfer Malene Nielsen is expected to be the number-one netminder for the Red Storm.

The Danish international only appeared once for the Cardinals, making two saves and allowing a goal against Dayton last season. That lack of playing time looks alarming, but it shouldn’t be a predictor of future performance. Former St. John’s goalkeeper Gina Muzi only logged nine minutes of action in the fall 2021 season, then started every game of the 2022 season and tallied seven clean sheets.

Nielsen played her first two collegiate seasons at Fairleigh Dickinson, starting in 41 games for the Knights. In her freshman year, she won NEC Goalkeeper of the Year honors and was named to the First Team All-NEC.