JAMAICA, N.Y. -- The St. John’s University men’s soccer team was ranked No. 3 in the country in the preseason rankings done by CollegeSoccerNews.com, released today. The Red Storm are the only team from the BIG EAST Conference rated among the top-10.

Two of last year’s four College Cup teams are ranked ahead of St. John’s, with Maryland earning the preseason No. 1 spot, followed by defending national champion UCLA at No. 2.

St. John’s is third, followed by Wake Forest, Stanford, SMU, Penn State, Creighton, Furman, with Indiana rounding out the top-10.

Four BIG EAST schools were rated among the top-30, with St. John’s No. 3 ranking the highest. They were followed by Notre Dame (No. 12), Boston College (No. 14) and Connecticut (No. 15).

Wisconsin-Milwaukee was ranked 11th, with Notre Dame, Clemson, Boston College, Connecticut, St. Louis, Pennsylvania, California, UC-Santa Barbara and New Mexico rounding out the top-20. Virginia is ranked 21st, followed by Coast Carolina, Washington, Duke, Portland, Northeastern, San Diego, UAB, Michigan and Bradley.

In other soccer news, St. John’s ranked 14th in the country in average home attendance last year, drawing 12,597 fans over 11 games, an average of 1,145. Connecticut topped the nation in home attendance, averaging 2,519 fans per game.

St. John’s is coming off a 2002 season in which the team finished 13-3-5 overall and advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament for the seventh-straight year. The Red Storm, who led the nation in goals against average with a 0.44 mark, have participated in the last 11 NCAA Tournaments, winning the NCAA National Championship in 1996 and reaching the Final Four in 2001.

The Red Storm open their 2003 season on Saturday, August 23 with a preseason match at Massachusetts. The regular season opens on Friday, August 29, when St. John’s plays North Carolina in a tournament at Wake Forest. The Classic, which will conclude on August 30 with a match against the host Demon Deacons, also includes Connecticut.

The team’s home opener is on Wednesday, September 10 against Rutgers.