BOSTON, MASS. – The St. John’s bench watched the seconds slowly tick off the clock, now knowing that there was no chance of coming back. No one noticed the blustery gusts that had the temperature into the low 40s, the sweat stinging in their eyes, mixing with tears or the total exhaustion that goes with an all-out effort for 90 minutes.
The players sat on the field, numb to the feeling that for the second straight season, they would lose in the ECAC Tournament Championship game by a 1-0 margin.
The top seeded Red Storm fell to the #2 seeded University of Pennsylvania on Nov. 12, the same score SJU lost to Villanova last season.
The first half was a defensive struggle as the Quakers held SJU to one shot, but could not convert their four chances.
Then, in the 65th minute, Tournament Most Valuable Player Angela Konstantaras took a pass from Sabrina Fenton and shot the ball past SJU goalie Tina Fogg for what would be the only goal of the game.
St. John’s best chance came with 12 minutes remaining in the contest. Lisa Kaczmarski rushed in from the left side towards the net and chipped a pass under the dive of Quaker goalie Katherine Hunt to Lisa Rinaldi. Rinaldi, with a defender on her back, couldn’t get a foot on the ball and it deflected out-of-bounds.
“We got a break,” said Penn Head Coach Darren Ambrose. “It hit the shin guard and it went out, if it’s off her foot, it’s a goal.”
The Red Storm had three chances on corner kicks in the last five minutes, but the Penn defense held on for the win.
“We fought real hard toward the end,” Head Coach Ian Stone said, “we just couldn’t convert.”
The Storm finish the year at 12-9, the most wins since the 1994 squad that won the Big East Tournament. After two straight appearances in the title game, there’s only one thing left to do next year: win it all.
“I wish them all the best of luck,” senior Jaime Clark said, “because they should definitely win it next year.”
SJU Cages Leopards in First Round
In the first round of the tournament, St. John’s blasted Lafayette 3-0 on their way to the championship game. Lisa Kaczmarski scored two goals, one in each half, in leading the Storm to victory. “I’ve been working really hard in practice, said Kaczmarski. “It was a good reward.”
An offsides call on Lafayette’s Jenna Thompson took her goal off the board, keeping the Storm at a 2-0 advantage.
Amber Carr looked to ice the game with her shot at 78:23, but the ball bounced off the left post where Erin Zambelli was waiting to boot it into the back of the net.
Tina Fogg made four saves, picking up her sixth shutout of the season.
