St. John's University Athletics
Red Storm Lacrosse 2008 Season Preview
1/30/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse
Jan. 30, 2008
QUEENS, N.Y. - One theme sums up the goals for the 2008 St. John's men's lacrosse season: "Finish it." For the first time since the program's reinstatement, St. John's will compete with a core group of 10 senior student-athletes, all of whom have played with the Red Storm since their freshmen season.
"This season is going to be all about our seniors finishing what they started," said second-year head coach Jason Miller. "It is the year we stop talking about reinstatement and start talking about the program these guys have built over the course of their four years here."
The 2008 season will be one to really focus on winning. After marking a program-high winning percentage last season, St. John's is ready to use its 2007 win total as a benchmark and tally some more victories. The Red Storm will face 13 opponents this spring, as part of a schedule that includes six home games against four league opponents. St. John's will also face five worthy adversaries from the Inside Lacrosse Face-Off Yearbook's preseason Top 25, and was picked to finish sixth in the ECAC Preseason Coaches Poll, its highest preseason ranking since joining the league in 2005.
"With the schedule that we play, there are a million different situations that can help us win a game. A goal here, a face-off win or save," said Miller. "But without the commitment to doing the little things everyday, we won't get there."
On Saturday, Feb. 2, the Red Storm will officially kick off its fourth season back with a preseason doubleheader at C.W. Post and NYIT. St. John's will scrimmage C.W. Post at 11 a.m., followed by an exhibition against NYIT at 2:30 p.m. on C.W. Post's Brookville, N.Y. and NYIT's Old Westbury campus, respectively.
Attack
Leading the Red Storm attack unit will be seniors Tom Michaelsen on the right side and fellow classmate Graeme Gillespie from the left. Michaelsen has paced the Red Storm offensively in each of the last two seasons, with 31 points as a sophomore and 37 points as a junior. Michaelsen led the team in all three offensive categories in 2007 and with his All-ECAC second team honor, he became the first St. John's player to grace the all-league list since the squad joined the ECAC in 2005.
"Michaelsen will be the guy we count on as our leader on that end of the field," said Miller.
Gillespie will mirror as the Red Storm's leading lefty veteran. Miller sees Gillespie, who was tied for fourth in goals with eight in 2007, as a "slick finisher and a good rider." Junior Bobby Fitton will also see significant time as St. John's other veteran lefty attackman. With two years' experience, Fitton has developed into a good carrier and a good finisher who finished seventh on the team in both goals (5) and points (5) last season.
Competing for the starting spot alongside Michaelsen on the right side is senior Rob Gannon and junior Drew Schanen. Together, the two tallied three goals and 20 shots in 2007.
"Rob is probably our best righthanded off-ball threat. He has worked hard at being as much of a threat with the ball as he is without it and is becoming a more balanced attacker," said Miller. "He sets a great example with his effort."
Also in the mix for the starting righty spot is sophomore Garrett Mitchell, "one of the most dangerous guys we have next to Tom Michaelsen," according to Miller. Mitchell saw significant time in his freshman season as he started nine of the Red Storm's 13 games as a midfielder, and scored his first collegiate goal in the home-closer against Hobart.
St. John's brings two new freshman faces to the attack unit in Terence Leach and Joe Bagnasco. Leach, the left-side attacker out of St. Dominic High School in Oyster Bay, N.Y., has shown Miller his determination and skill after returning from a fall ball injury.
"Leach has impressed us from day one and he had a great fall season," said Miller. "He scored three goals in 15 minutes against Sacred Heart and has a great ability to finish from the side."
Bagnasco will be vying for time at the right side of the field. Bagnasco, from Farmingdale, N.Y., played on Farmingdale's Nassau County Championship and divisional championship squad, and according to Miller has "great skills and the knack for making the big play."
Midfield
The Red Storm's midfield will be led by the triple threat of juniors Trevor Michaelsen, Tom Manes and senior Justin O'Donnell. Michaelsen rejoins the midfield after playing a season with his twin brother Tom on the attack unit. He was second in both points and goals in 2007, with 20 and 23, respectively. Manes and O'Donnell also graced the Red Storm's top five offensive lists in 2007 as they were tied for third in points with 22 as Manes racked up 14 assists and eight goals, and O'Donnell sunk 18 shots and dished four assists. Between the three veterans, St. John's is sure to see a lot of action from the offensive midfield.
Perhaps the most significant change to St. John's is the improved depth at the second midfield spot.
"We have a log jam of six athletes, all of whom logged a lot of minutes for us last year," said Miller.
The six vets include seniors Chris DeMarco and Felix Forbes, junior Jamal Jones and Matt Viscusi and sophomores Reggie Davis and Nick Messinger. Forbes saw time as a starter in six games last season and collected three goals and three assists. Viscusi, the team's junior captain, had two goals last season on just two shot attempts for a perfect shot percentage. DeMarco and Davis will be stepping out of the defensive end, both played important roles in the Red Storm's 79.9 clearing percentage last season. Messinger, Viscusi, Jones and DeMarco all played short stick defensive middie last season.
Adding depth are newcomers Eric Schmit, Mike Iorio, Brian White and O'Brien Berry. Schmit, the lone member of the team out of Minnesota, is a three-time All-Minnesota and all-conference honoree and high school All-American from Minnetonka High School. Iorio, a Sayville High School alumnus, was one of Suffolk County's top ten goal scorers in 2007 and helped Sayville to its first-ever county championship game in 2005. White was a first team all-county selection by both the Baltimore Sun and the Washington Post as an attackman at St. Mary's High School in Annapolis, Md. White also played a season at Bridgton Academy in Maine. Berry hails from three-time district championship and two-time state semi-finalist W.T. Woodson High School. Berry ties with Manes for the fastest on the team and will make a solid addition to the short-stick mids.
Defensive Midfield
Junior Dom DeNapoli will lead the vets at the long stick midfield position. DeNapoli was ranked in the NCAA top 100 in ground balls per game for four consecutive weeks in 2007. Sophomore Jerry Nevin will also help DeNapoli as a long stick middie or back on defense.
"Nevin is a very versatile player who will see time as a long pole or down low," said Miller.
Freshman Mike Sherry from Oceanside, N.Y., will also join DeNapoli and Nevin.
"I am pleased with the progress Mike has made, it allows us to move Nevin to close defense and gives us depth at the long stick," said Miller.
Defense
Seniors Tim LaMare and Mike Luyster will lead the Red Storm close defense. The pair are both two-year starters with excellent athletic ability.
"Tim is one of the best pure athletes we have, he is tough and matches up well against smaller, quicker players. Mike has been a starter since the day he got here. He matches up well against the bigger stronger attackers. Both have the potential to be all-league defenders," said Miller.
Senior Ryan Parker will see increased time on the field this season after serving the Red Storm as part of the man-down unit.
"Ryan is ready to make the transition from a man-down specialist to an every minute player," said Miller.
Sophomores Nevin and Marty Taffet will also use their experience to help the Red Storm defense, while freshman Dan Cremens will step in to make his mark at St. John's. Cremens, a first-team all defenseman according to The Carroll County Times and a Carroll Sun all-conference selection; comes from Finksburg, Md., and was part of Westminster's three-time state semifinalist and Monocacy Valley conference regional championship teams. Rookie Carlin Cornetta from Half Hollow Hill West High School in Long Island, N.Y., will also back up the close defense.
Face-Offs
Returning for the Red Storm at the face-off X is senior Jack Rosson. Rosson will be St. John's lead face-off specialist, as he took 98 face-offs last season and was ranked in the NCAA top 35 all season with his .495 win-percentage.
"One of the additional benefits of our depth at midfield is that it allows us to use Jack more efficiently than last year," said Miller. "We felt we ran him down over the course of the game last season and we're going to be able to be more conservative with his minutes this year."
DeNapoli will also take some draws at the X as he posted a .438 win-percentage in 2007. Junior Pat McClay and rookie Schmit will also see time as a face-off specialist.
In Goal
The starting position between the pipes for St. John's will be a 50-50 battle between sophomores Gavin Buckley and Dan Goldberg. Goldberg earned ECAC weekly honors on two occasions and made eight starts in the net as a freshman in 2007. He led the ECAC in saves per game (12.50) and stopped 23 shots against Drexel. Buckley made his collegiate debut against the top-ranked Georgetown Hoyas on March 3, 2007. Buckley and Goldberg will be pushed by newcomer Steve Gartelman, who was a three-time all-conference and all-county honoree for Seaford High School in Seaford, N.Y.
The Schedule
The Red Storm's 2008 season includes a variety of competitive teams from not only its conference, the ECAC, but from the other big lacrosse leagues such as the Atlantic Coast Conference, the Patriot League and the Colonial.
Miller shook up the non-conference schedule from the past three years, adding Holy Cross (Feb. 16), Lehigh (March 22) and Duke (May 4) back into the mix, and moving Lafayette (Feb. 9) to preseason play.
The team opens regular season play at home with its first of two Patriot League match-ups against the Holy Cross Crusaders on Feb. 16. St. John's will take to the road for the next three Saturdays facing Quinnipiac of the Great Western Lacrosse League in Hamden, Conn., on Feb. 23, then traveling to our Nation's Capital for its ECAC opener against Georgetown on March 1.
After Georgetown, the Red Storm will play five additional March games, the most for any month this season. Highlighting the rest of the March schedule is the Red Storm's first home ECAC matchup against Loyola (March 15) and ending the month at Rutgers (March 29).
The Red Storm closes out league play in April as the team will host three conference opponents, Massachusetts (April 5), Penn State (April 12) and Fairfield (April 26). The ECAC Lacrosse League regains its automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament this season, after rebuilding the league in 2005.
St. John's will play its first May contest since 1993, when the team travels to Durham, N.C. to face 2007 national runner-up Duke on May 4, in the 2008 regular season-finale.
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