The playoff fate of the St. John’s women’s soccer team was hanging in the balance heading into the final three days of the regular season. With control of its own destiny however, the Red Storm did not leave its postseason fate to chance.

St. John’s won at last-place Providence (6-8-3, 1-7-3 Big East), 2-1, on Friday, to secure a Big East playoff spot (its third straight and seventh all-time) after South Florida (7-8-3, 3-7-1 Big East) lost at home, 1-0, to Pittsburgh (7-11-1, 4-6-1 Big East).

The Red Storm (8-5-5, 4-4-3 Big East) then tuned up for the conference tournament with a 1-1 draw at Connecticut (6-8-5, 4-3-4 Big East) in its regular season finale on Sunday, to finish in fourth place in the American Division of the Big East conference standings.

With a strong 4-1-1 charge to the playoffs in its final six regular season games, the recently Red (hot) Storm are definitely ones to watch this week, as a possible dangerous entry in the Big East tournament.

St. John’s could get an early opportunity to demonstrate just how precarious a matchup they could be for a top seed, against the tournament’s overwhelming favorite. As the number four seed from the American division, the Red Storm will host Cincinnati (9-6-3, 5-3-3 Big East), the number 5 seed from the National division, at 7pm, on Thursday night.

Should St. John’s survive that first-round contest, they would travel to South Bend, Indiana, to meet the overall top seed, Notre Dame (18-0, 11-0 Big East), in a potential quarterfinal game, at 1pm, on Sunday.