St. John's University Athletics
Red Storm Lacrosse Announces 2009 Team Captains
10/17/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse
Oct. 17, 2008
QUEENS, N.Y. - Head men's lacrosse coach Jason Miller announced a trio of seniors, Matt Viscusi, Jamal Jones and Dom DeNapoli, as the 2009 team captains.
"Coming out of last season, it was evident to the other coaches and myself that we needed a core of leadership from day one," said Miller. "It was also very clear that these were the three guys best suited for the job. I can't think of one day where I've felt like we didn't get the best that these three guys could give us, so the decision to select them as captains was easy."
Viscusi is the seasoned leader of the group as a returning captain from 2008. The Floral Park, N.Y., native has had a successful, 30-game, three-year career thus far with the Red Storm. As a junior, he played in 11 games, picked up nine ground balls and caused three turnovers. In his sophomore season, he scored two goals on two shots for a 1.000 shot percentage. Both goals were scored at opportune times as Viscusi's goal tied the game at 1-1 in the Red Storm's first-ever ECAC win over Rutgers (6-4) in the waning minutes of the first half. Viscusi also scored at Penn State, bringing the Red Storm within one at the end of the first half.
Jones, another midfielder, is a native of Severn, Md. The senior has tallied seven assists in 35 games over three seasons with St. John's. As a junior, he started nine of 13 games and had three helpers including and assist on the fourth goal in St. John's 10-7 conference win over Fairfield on April 26. Jones also picked up a career season-high of 10 ground balls to lift his career total to 24.
DeNapoli, a longstick midfielder from Hewlett, N.Y., will return as the Red Storm's most experienced face-off specialist, as St. John's lost Jack Rosson to graduation in May. As a junior, DeNapoli won 19-of-48 draws and helped the team to win 48 percent of its face-offs in 2008. He's played in 39 games for STJ, and has been ranked in the NCAA's Top 100 for ground balls per game for the past two seasons.
The trio will be leading a young team of 23 underclassmen, including 12 freshmen, two redshirt freshmen and nine sophomores through the team's last season in the ECAC Lacrosse League before starting a BIG EAST Lacrosse League schedule in 2010.
The Red Storm will begin its 2009 regular season on the road, traveling to Worcester, Mass., to play Holy Cross for a Feb. 14 game at 1 p.m. St. John's will prepare with three home exhibition games starting with NYIT and C.W. Post on Jan. 31.
