St. John's Off to Best Start Since '85
from press release
QUEENS, N.Y. – The Red Storm
men’s lacrosse team jumps off to its best start since 1985,
with a decisive 15-8 win over the Quinnipiac Bobcats, Saturday
afternoon on DaSilva Memorial Field. Senior starting attackman Drew
Schanen had a career-day on the turf, tallying five points on four
goals and one assist. Freshman attackman Harry Kutner also marked a
career-milestone in his short time on the turf for St. John’s
with four assists.
With the win, St. John’s improves to 2-0 on the season, all
in non-conference action. Quinnipiac falls to 1-1 overall. The 15-8
victory gives St. John’s a one-game edge over Quinnipiac in
the all-time series record (2-1). The seven-goal margin of victory
is the largest between the teams as both previous games were
decided by one goal.
The Red Storm established themselves early scoring seven goals to
Quinnipiac’s one halfway through the second period. At the
half, St. John’s was up 9-3, the most goals the Red Storm has
scored in two seasons.
Rookie Matt Hurst put the Red Storm on the board first off a pass
from senior Tom Manes at 10:02. Senior Malcolm Miles made it 2-0 as
he scored unassisted with 6:47 left in the first period. Twelve
seconds later, Schanen netted his first goal of the game,
unassisted, to give St. John’s a three-goal lead.
Garett Kerr scored man-up to put an end to St. John’s
three-goal scoring run at 5:18. But St. John’s answered back
with four-straight goals led off by freshman Carl Iacona. Iacona
scored unassisted after one of St. John’s 17 successful
clears with 4:37 left in the opening period. Miles followed and
made his second goal of the contest with 3:35 on the game
clock.
Sophomore Terence Leach opened the second stanza with two goals of
his own to give St. John’s a 7-1 lead with 11:05 left in the
half. One minute into the new period, Leach scored his first of the
day and second of the season off a quick pass from Kutner who was
set up behind the net. Cutting through traffic, Leach netted his
second-straight off a one-time pass from Schanen.
Quinnipiac scored twice more in the half before Schanen capitalized
on a Bobcat slashing penalty to score man-up on goalie Kevin
Benzing. Junior Garrett Mitchell gave the Red Storm a six-goal lead
as he sunk a bounce shot off a spin move through traffic with just
over a minute and a half remaining. His shot went off the cross bar
and into the net past Benzing. St. John’s went into the break
up 9-3.
In the third period, Schanen opened it up for St. John’s with
his hat trick goal of the contest off another assist by Kutner.
Senior long stick middie Dom DeNapoli caused a Quinnipiac turnover
and picked up the ground ball to pass off to Kutner who was once
again ready behind the goal. Kutner dished it to Schanen who ran
through the Quinnipiac defense and scored over the shoulder, giving
the Red Storm a 10-3 advantage at 13:28. Schanen netted his fourth
five minutes later unassisted at 8:06.
Once again Quinnipiac made an attempt at a come back with
back-to-back goals from Kerr and Jack Oppenheimer. The Red Storm
went into the final period up 11-5.
St. John’s and Quinnipiac traded goals in the fourth stanza
as Manes and senior midfielder Jamal Jones scored for the Red Storm
and Alex DeAlmeida and Oppenheimer netted two for Quinnipiac.
Oppenheimer scored one more halfway with 7:35 left to play to make
the score 13-8 as the Bobcats scored their final goal of the
day.
Manes and Jones finalized the win with another goal each in the
waning minutes of the contest. Jones’ final goal was scored
off a straight one-time pass from fellow senior Trevor Michaelsen
in front of the pipes.
Face-off specialist DeNapoli got off to a slow start, but finished
the day 17-for-24 with a 71 percent win percentage against the
Bobcats. He faced three opponents at the X and led the team in
ground balls with 13. Sophomore Eric Schmit went 1-for-2 in
draws.
As a team, the Red Storm went 3-for-7 in extra man opportunities,
scoring two man-up goals in the fourth and one in the second.
Quinnipiac was 2-for-2 in the first half, but ended the day 3-for-7
as well.
Goalie Gavin Buckley earned his second-straight win with six saves
between the pipes for St. John’s. He faced 14 shots on goal
and 16 shots overall. Quinnipiac’s Benzing had six saves as
well, but was succeeded by Jamie Prudden and Ryan Andrews in the
fourth period.
St. John’s had 44 attempts at the Quinnipiac net with 21 of
them on goal.
