2008 Woodie Awards
The Award-Winning Student Newspaper of St. John's University
December 1, 2008 When Sverre Wegge Gundhus scored a goal to put the St. John's men's soccer team up 1-0 in the 82nd minute against UC Irvine on Saturday, it seemed like it was just insurance. Gundhus' third goal of the year came just four minutes after a header goal from Trevor Chiduku that put the Storm up 2-1 in the third round of the NCAA Tournament.
It was a bittersweet moment for the St. John's men's soccer team at their viewing of the NCAA Tournament selection show on Monday night. The team gathered in the Carneseca Arena lobby to learn they earned a well-earned three-seed in the national tournament.
Six minutes into overtime of the Big East Championship game on Sunday, South Florida's Sebastian Thuriere broke the 0-0 tie with a golden goal and ended St. John's chance to hoist the conference crown. After a 90 minute defensive battle, Red Storm goalkeeper Neal Kitson made a save and rebounded the shot back into play.
The St. John's women's volleyball team learned the hard way that the most dangerous team is a team with nothing to lose. Just two days removed from their most emotionally taxing victory at Notre Dame, the first-place Red Storm hit a speed bump when they traveled to DePaul for their final regular season outing on Sunday afternoon, falling to the Blue Demons in four sets (25-23, 21-25, 15-25, 20-25).
When the 2008 Big East Tournament begins on Friday morning, the St. John's women's volleyball team will find themselves as the top seed for the third consecutive year. And while the reigning 2007 Big East champions will look to defend their title, they realize that there are going to be seven other squads looking to dethrone them.
Poor defense and rebounding hurt the St. John's Red Storm in their 82-70 loss to Boston College in the quarterfinal round of the Preseason NIT Tip-Off tournament. Though the game followed a back-and-forth pace, with multiple lead changes and momentum swings for both teams, a late second half push by the Eagles was simply too much for St.
Norm Roberts has been criticized for his ability to secure New York City recruits, but the events of National Signing Day may help to hush some of the fifth-year coach's critics. Last Thursday, two Bronx natives - Omari Lawrence and Dwight Hardy - inked their letters of intent to attend the University and play their college ball under Roberts.
As the old saying goes, it's not how you start the game, it's how you finish it. That was the storyline for the St. John's women's basketball team Tuesday night as they defeated Dartmouth 74-39 in Hanover, N.H. The Red Storm struggled early on against a seemingly inferior opponent in the Big Green as they only shot 38.
