Text Box: St. John’s opponents should be warned that the Red Storm will again be a talented team in 2001. St. John’s University returns eight starters from the 2000 team that finished the year at 14-5-2 including an 8-2-1 record and second place finish in the Big East Conference. The Red Storm has now appeared in nine straight NCAA Tournaments and has advanced to the round of 16 for five seasons in a row. Dave Masur will enter his eleventh season as the head coach at St. John’s in 2001 with a team that does have a few gaps to fill. Those gaps include the loss of four graduating seniors. Three of the four were starters. Gone will be defender Omar Chaves, a first team Big East Selection, defender Adam Maurer who started 19 games, goalkeeper Jeffrey Stoklosa who started 14 games in 2000, and forward Antonis Theorides who started 10 games. The Red Storm always plays solid team defense and the 2000 team was certainly no exception as they allowed only 14 goals against all season or .67 goals per game. St. John’s makes few mistakes, they win the 50-50 balls, and they are very effective at dictating the pace of a match. A very tough team to play, St. John’s recorded 11 shutouts in 2000. The ability of Masur to rebuild the St. John’s back line will be a key ingredient to their success in 2001. Returning defenders include Senior Rich Bradley. Sophomore Bill Gaudette who started 6 games in 2000 appears to be the heir apparent for the netminder position. Gaudette had a GAA of 0.50 in 2000. The Red Storm attack looks solid. As a team in 2000 they scored 37 goals. A total of 33 of those goals were placed in the back of the net by players who are scheduled to return in 2001.The St. John’s attack will be led by senior midfielders Shalrie Joseph (14g, 2a) and Jeff Matteo (2g, 7a). Both Joseph and Matteo were Big East Conference first team selections in 2000. Other returning midfielders who saw a lot of action in 2000 include Chris Wingert (0g,6a) who does an excellent job of distributing the ball, Matia Damiani (2g, 1a), Dave O’Donnell (0g, 5a), Patrick Lonergan, and Alberto Duenas. Sophomore forward Angel Rodriguez (2g, 0a) should contribute to the attack up top in 2001. St. John’s finished the 2000 season ranked as the number 10 team in the country in the Mad Dog College Soccer national poll and as the number 11 team in the NSCAA national poll. If everything falls together St. John’s should again be a top ten team in 2001 and challenge for the Big East Conference title.