Fresh off the St. John’s men’s soccer team’s 22nd Division I NCAA Tournament appearance in the last 30 seasons, Dr. Dave Masur has announced his team’s schedule for the fall campaign.

Eight of the Red Storm’s 17 opponents qualified for last year’s NCAA Tournament, including three national seeds in FIU, Indiana and Georgetown. Five of those matches against NCAA Tournament opponents will come in conference, as the Big East equaled a post-realignment record by sending five teams last year’s NCAA field. All of those teams advanced to at least the round of 32.

The quest for a league-record 10th Big East title will begin on Aug. 25 when the Red Storm travels to New Jersey to take on Monmouth at Hesse Field. Four days later, the Johnnies will open their home slate on Aug. 29 when they take on Florida International University in a rematch of the 1996 national championship match. The Red Storm and the Panthers have met eight times in their history with each team claiming four victories. The last matchup between the two perennial national powers came in 2004.

St. John’s will host Lehigh University on Sept. 2 before traveling to Bloomington, Ind., to reignite an historic rivalry with the Hoosiers on Sept. 6. The Johnnies and the Hoosiers are 3-3-2 all-time against one another with three of those matches coming in December.

The Red Storm will return home to host another NCAA Tournament squad in Loyola Maryland on Sept. 9 before traveling into Upper Manhattan to take on Columbia on Sept. 12.

Fresh off an appearance in the College Cup, Georgetown Universityy awaits St. John’s in the Big East opener for both teams on Sept. 16 at Belson Stadium. That contest with the Hoyas will kick off a three-game homestand against NCAA Tournament squads, as the Johnnies will welcome Villanova on Sept. 23 before closing out non-conference play against Princeton on Sept. 27. Last season, St. John’s swept a pair of decisions from the Tigers, defeating Princeton, 1-0, on Sept. 28 in New Jersey before earning another 1-0 victory in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament at Belson Stadium.

St. John’s will travel to South Orange for a matchup against Seton Hall University on Oct. 1 before welcoming Xavier University to Queens on Oct. 5. The Johnnies will then venture to Omaha for an Oct. 8 contest with Creighton University before hosting DePaul on Oct. 12.

One week later, St. John’s will head to Providence College, where the Red Storm will look to win its second straight at Anderson Stadium on Oct. 19. A few days later, the Johnnies will head to Butler on Oct. 22 before returning home to host longtime Big East rival Connecticut on Oct. 29. The Red Storm will then wrap the regular season against Marquette on Nov. 3 in Milwaukee.

St. John’s returns three of its top four scorers from last year’s squad in Brandon Knapp, Einar Lye and Wesley Leggett. Knapp earned spots on the All-Big East first team and All-Region third team after leading the team with five goals and six assists. The Abingdon, Md. native also helped the Johnnies record 12 shutouts.

Front Row Soccer editor Michael Lewis has covered 13 World Cups (eight men, five women), seven Olympics and 25 MLS Cups. He has written about New York City FC, New York Cosmos, the New York Red Bulls and both U.S. national teams for Newsday and has penned a soccer history column for the Guardian.com. Lewis, who has been honored by the Press Club of Long Island and National Soccer Coaches Association of America, is the former editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He has written seven books about the beautiful game and has published ALIVE AND KICKING The incredible but true story of the Rochester Lancers. It is available at Amazon.com.