St. John's University Athletics
2007 Red Storm Lacrosse Season Preview
2/12/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse
???Respect??? ??? is the theme that encompasses the 2007 St. John???s Lacrosse season, as the Red Storm looks to focus on working hard each day, in every aspect of life, to build a successful program.
First-year head coach Jason Miller???s number one goal for the team this season is to earn respect for the program from the inside out.
???Sure we hope to be more competitive within in the ECAC, sure we hope to win more games; but our focus has to be on the day to day things that will make us better,??? remarked Miller.
With most of the returning players having at least two years playing at such a high level, Miller hopes to utilize his biggest asset, experience.
???We have a roster full of guys who have competed in the ECAC for two years, they???ve played the best teams in the country whether they were ready to or not. Sooner or later that has to work to our advantage. There has got to be a point in time when we take advantage of that experience.???
In 2007, in order to take the program to the next level, the Red Storm will look to improve the team???s clearing game, their ability to shoot the ball, to play at a faster pace and ultimately squeeze out a few more wins.
Attack:
Junior Tom Michaelsen has been the leader at the attack position since the beginning. The two-year starter is a strong physical athlete who led the team in scoring in 2006 with 21 goals and 10 assists. This year he will be joined by his twin brother, Trevor Michaelsen, who Miller has moved to attack from the midfield. Michaelsen sat out last season after transferring from Rutgers. Miller hopes the move will add depth and scoring ability to the offense.
Also returning to the attack position is lefty Graeme Gillespie, Rob Gannon and Bobby Fitton. Gillespie is a crafty dodger and the best at breaking the opposition???s clear attempts. Miller hopes his .636 shooting percentage will enable the Red Storm to finish their scoring opportunities. Gannon, another two-year starter, is an off-ball threat with a knack for picking up ground balls. Fitton saw limited time as a freshman last year, but he has the skills and ability to get to the goal. Together the three amassed 30 points with 22 goals and eight assists.
Newcomer Garrett Mitchell showed a lot of promise at attack in the fall. He could also see time as a midfielder to maximize his ability to get to the goal. Mitchell marked two five goal games his senior year at Montclair, the 2006 Essex County Champions.
Midfield:
Even with the conversion of Trevor Michaelsen to attack, the midfield remains deep with size and athleticism. Justin O???Donnell will lead the returnees.
???Justin is a strong, physical player who is excellent at creating room to time his shot,??? said Miller. O???Donnell was the team???s second leading scorer with 18 goals and four assists in 13 games.
Miller is looking for Tom Manes, the winner of the team???s intrasquad fall fitness contest, and two-year veteran Felix Forbes to step up and play more significant roles. Manes started 10-of-13 games last year with five goals and eight assists. Miller is especially looking for Forbes to capitalize on his two years experience and let his ability show through in conference play. Forbes netted three goals and three assists in his sophomore campaign.
Seeing more playing time this season will be junior Jack Rosson, who was third in points with 13 last season, and Pat McClay and Jamal Jones. According to Miller, Rosson has the ability to hit the left-handed runner, while McClay and Jones are hard workers who have earned the opportunity to contribute. Senior Rick Ruggles and rookie Nick Messenger will add depth to the midfield, seeing significant playing time. Ruggles had two points last season with one goal and one assist. Messenger is an all-district, first team all-region, honorable mention all-MET, freshman from Chantilly, Va.
Defensive Midfield and Face-Offs:
There is a wealth of depth at midfield for the Red Storm, including Matthew Viscusi, Chris Demarco and freshmen Reggie Davis and Marco Massaro.
In his freshman season, Viscusi played in 12 games and started one. He picked up 11 groundballs for the season and two points.
???Viscusi???s day-in and day-out work ethic is the model that we want to build this program around,??? said Miller.
Demarco is coming off a sophomore-year knee injury, but played in five games during his freshman season. Of the long-sticks, Dominick DeNapoli brings the know-how and is also the Red Storm???s leading face-off candidate. The addition of freshmanJerry Nevinwill allow Miller to utilize DeNapoli more efficiently.
DeNapoli and Rosson will shoulder the majority of draws at the face-off ???X.??? Together they marked a 41.1 face-off percentage, with a 51-for-124 record. McClay and freshman Marty Taffet will also contribute. McClay won one of two face offs taken last season.
Nevin, a St. Ignatius Prep alumnus, was named one of the San Francisco Chronicle???s and Cal Hi Sports??? Top 10 athletes in 2006. Taffet, a Denver native, was an all-conference member of the back-to-back state championship Cherry Creek Bruins.
Defense:
The Red Storm defense boasts the talents of captains Mike Luyster, Anthony Bozymowski andT.J. O???Shea.Last season Luyster was named the team???s most valuable player. The defenseman started 12-of-13 contests in 2006 and was tied for second in groundballs with 33. During his freshman year, Luyster was third on the team in groundballs with 37 and also started 12-of-13 games. Likewise, Bozymowski collected 26 ground balls and started 13-of-14 contests played. O???Shea saw limited time last season but had a promising fall, bringing leadership and a strong work ethic to theteam.
The seniors will be joined by junior Tim LaMare who started two games last season and collected a team high of 43 ground balls for the season. LaMare will be moving to the long-pole this season after a brief one-year stint at the short stick. ???LaMare brings speed and athleticism to that end of the field,??? remarked Miller.
Also on defense are juniors Chris Lipski andRyan Parker, who both showed promise in the fall season. Lipski started played in six games and drew one start last season, collecting five ground balls. Parker saw time in eight contests.
In Goal:
Protecting the net will be two-year starter Dave Saccente, whose past experience will work to the Red Storm???s advantage. Saccente picked up 33 ground balls and 122 saves while in the goal for the Red Storm. He marked a 8.47 goals against average and started every game last season.
Saccente will be pushed by freshmen Dan Goldberg andGavin Buckley. Goldberg was a two-time all-county honoree, a Top 50 Empire State Finalist and a three-year starting goaltender at Hewlitt High School. Buckley, named 2006 Conference Co-Player of the Year, was a two-time first team all-conference player from DeMatha High School, and marked 194 saves during his senior campaign, 25 against top-ranked Georgetown Prep.
Coaching Staff:
Fall 2006 saw significant changes to the Red Storm sidelines as former head coach Rick Sowell traveled down the Long Island Expressway to head up the Stony Brook Seawolves. St. John???s brought in the expertise of Coach Jason Miller, a former three-year first assistant at the University of Massachusetts.
With the Minutemen, Miller worked with the defense and face-off units helping lead the team to its first ever NCAA national title game in 2006. During the NCAA semifinal contest last season, the UMass defense held Maryland, one of the nation???s strongest offensive teams, to just five goals.
Miller named Dan Paccione and former Red Storm captainJohn Kutneras his assistants. Paccione, who will head up the 2007 Red Storm offense, currently plays midfield for Major League Lacrosse???s Chicago Machine, while Kutner, a junior college All-American, will direct the defense.
ECAC:
The Red Storm is a member of one of the toughest conferences in the nation. Last season, the ECAC expanded from seven to eight programs with the addition of Fairfield University.
???In my opinion, [the ECAC] is the best conference in the country,??? said Miller. ???There are three or four perennial top-10 teams in Georgetown, UMass, Loyola and Penn State. Virtually every team is a legitimate NCAA Tournament contender.???
Five teams are ranked in the 2007 Inside Lacrosse Face-Off Yearbook Top-25 poll, with Georgetown at No. 5, followed by No. 10 UMass, No. 12 Loyola, No. 17 Penn State and No. 25 Hobart. According to Lacrosse Magazine???s pre-season Top 20, Georgetown leads the pack with a No. 6 ranking, followed by No. 11 UMass, No. 14 Loyola and No. 17 Fairfield.
With eight teams competing in 2007, the ECAC regained automatic qualifier status for the NCAA Tournament. This will be the first season in which the league champion earns an automatic bid since the ECAC???s rebuilding in 2004.
The Schedule:
The Red Storm will face another challenging schedule in 2007, with five league opponents ranked in Top 25 preseason polls.
After two successful scrimmages against Division II powerhouses, C.W. Post, and New York Tech, the Red Storm Lacrosse program will travel to Lewisburg, Pa., on Feb. 17 for their regular season opener against Bucknell.
Last season, Bucknell was 6-8 and featured a double-overtime win over No. 1 Maryland and another Top 20 road win over No. 13 Penn State.
On the road again the following weekend, the Red Storm travels south to Louisville, Ky., to try their luck against the Bellarmine Knights of the Great Western Lacrosse League.
The Red Storm opens its home season against Georgetown University, on March 3. In 2006, the Hoyas captured the ECAC Lacrosse League title, advanced to the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament for the second straight season and finished fifth in the STX/USILA final poll with an 11-2 record.
St. John???s plays two of its next three games on its home turf. The Red Storm hosts Lafayette on Tuesday, March 6 and then hits the road to battle Drexel in Philadelphia, Pa., on Saturday, March 10. St. John???s then takes on Quinnipiac three days later on Tuesday, March 13, in the first ever meeting between the Red Storm and the Bobcats.
St. John???s faces-off against conference foe Loyola on Saturday, March 17 in Baltimore, Md. With a 6-6 overall mark, the Greyhounds finished last season ranked 18th in the STX/USILA poll and are marked as Inside Lacrosse???s 2007 ???dark horse.???
The Red Storm will meet Siena in Albany, N.Y., on Wednesday, March 21 and closes out the month of March against ECAC opponent Rutgers on Saturday, March 31 at home.
In April all five of St. John???s games are against league opponents. The Red Storm begins the month with two of the most challenging contests of the season, with Massachusetts and Penn State.
St. John???s collides with the Massachusetts Minutemen on Saturday, April 7 in Amherst, Mass., and then faces Penn State the following Saturday in University Park, Pa. In 2006, the Minutemen and Nittany Lions finished 10th and 16th in the STX/USILA poll, respectively. UMass also was the national runner-up last season and the former team to new head coach Miller.
The Red Storm returns to DaSilva Memorial Field to play Hobart for its final home game of the season on Saturday, April 21, then concludes the regular season on the road against Fairfield on Sunday, April 29.
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