St. John's University Athletics
2009 St. John's Lacrosse Men's Lacrosse Season Outlook
1/23/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse
Jan. 23, 2009
QUEENS, N.Y. - With the experience of two seasons behind him, head men's lacrosse coach Jason Miller looks to continue to enhance a program which has reached many milestones over the past five seasons. The 2009 Red Storm is looking to capitalize on the depth of experienced players in every position and the addition of 13 freshmen to make waves in the ECAC before joining the newly-formed BIG EAST Lacrosse League in 2010. St. John's has had a 2-5 conference record for two-straight seasons with wins over Penn State, Fairfield, Rutgers and Hobart, and is looking to continue to rise in the ECAC standings in 2009.
"Coming out of last year, no one was satisfied with our season. We don't feel like it was representative of where we are at as a program. This year we have to step up and start winning games," said Miller.
Attack
With the loss of the Red Storm's leading scorers to graduation, this year's attack unit will feature a fresh crop of potential standouts. Leading the new class will be senior Drew Schanen, who makes his debut as a starter this season after playing in seven games and notching two goals a year ago. Over his three-year career with St. John's, he has scored five goals and tallied one assist.
"Drew has a lot of potential. He is a strong physical dodger. He is a threat off the ball, and has a huge right-handed shot," said Miller.
Supporting Schanen will be sophomore Joe Bagnasco. Bagnasco made his first appearance as a freshman starter at Quinnipiac last season, where he posted a season-high three assists. He scored his first career-goal against Massachusetts in 2008 and finished the season with six points on five assists and one goal.
"Joe is one of the better ball-handlers we have behind the cage, and he can also score with room and time," said Miller.
Competing for the starting lefty position will be sophomore Terence Leach and rookie Harry Kutner. Both players are solid left-handed finishers, and Leach has a season and a goal under his belt. Kutner is looking to make a mark on the collegiate scene after playing two years at Garden City High School on Long Island and another at Westminster Prep School in Simsbury, Conn. At Garden City, Kutner was a member of the Trojans' two-time Nassau County Championship team. At Westminster, he was nominated for Attackman of the Year among all New England Prep School players with 31 goals and 12 assists in 12 games.
Also in the mix for this season's attack unit is senior Bobby Fitton and a trio of rookies, Charles Holenstein, Zach Rubin and James McLoughlin. Fitton has suffered from a series of injuries over the past three seasons, but he plays both the right and the left sides equally well and is recognized by Miller as one of the most skilled players on the field.
Holenstein, from Downington, Pa., played four seasons for the Downington West Whippets. He finished his career with 128 goals and 57 assists for 185 points and was named both the Ches-mont League and team MVP in 2008. Rubin, from Branford, Conn., played three seasons with Branford High School. The New Haven, Conn., native was chosen to the Connecticut Super Junior Select team as a junior, and as a senior he earned all-state honors and became one of Branford's top 10 all-time leading scorers. A native of Long Beach, N.Y., McLoughlin earned all-county honors as a senior captain for Long Beach High School. He tallied 192 points on 84 goals and 104 assists over four seasons at Long Beach and was a member of the 2008 Nassau County Class A runner-up squad.
Midfield
Seniors Trevor Michaelsen and Malcolm Miles will be the ones to watch as they have the potential to emerge as leaders in the midfield. Michaelsen is a right-handed middie who started his career on attack for the Red Storm two seasons ago. The Bethpage, N.Y., native has grown into one of the team's most dominant scorers, boasting 32 goals and eight assists in 26 games. From last season, he leads the returning players in goals (12), man-up goals (3) and points (17).
Miles, one of the best natural athletes on the team, joined the Red Storm last fall after transferring from Herkimer Community College. In his first season with St. John's, he netted 10 goals and aided three for a season-total of 13 points, making him second in points of all returners.
After an impressive fall, freshman Carl Iacona makes a solid case for the third starting position in the first midfield. The rookie from Massapequa, N.Y., was a 2008 Nassau County All-America finalist. As a senior with Massapequa High School, he earned all county honors and was named Massapequa's Offensive Most Valuable Player.
The second midfield will feature one of the senior captains, Jamal Jones and senior Tom Manes.
"Jones is the most dependable and reliable player we have out there, he always does the right thing," said Miller.
Jones played in 35 games and started 11 over the course of his three-year career. Last season, he made his way onto the starting roster after just four games. He dished out three assists during the season in league games against Loyola (March 15), Massachusetts and Fairfield (April 26).
Manes, the fastest player on the roster and three-time defending champion of the team's fitness competition, tallied 10 points last season with four goals and six assists. He's made 31 starts in 38 games for the Red Storm and is the team's most experienced veteran starter.
Freshman Matt Hurst will be adding depth and new energy to the second midfield. A classmate of Iacona, Hurst also hails from Massapequa High School. He is a two-time all-conference honoree and earned the 2008 Massapequa Coaches' Award. Hurst was also a member of Massapequa's 2006 county championship squad.
"Hurst, as a freshman, is a tremendous all-around player and he will make a significant impact at that position," said Miller.
Also contributing to the midfield is senior Pat McClay, junior Garrett Mitchell and sophomore Mike Iorio.
McClay plays both the midfield and can be used as a substitute in the face-off X. Mitchell saw time in 10 games last season and started in the season-opener against Holy Cross. The junior tallied four goals for the season, assisting one for five points and had a .538 shots on goal percentage for the year. Iorio saw limited time last season, but he can also work the face-off X and went 1-for-1 against Hobart in 2008.
Also adding depth to the midfield are sophomore O'Brien Berry and freshmen Shane Foley, Jack Buckley and Nick Piotti and redshirt freshmen Ryan Herits, who will return to the field after an injury sidelined him last season.
Defensive Midfield
Leading the Red Storm in the defensive midfield will be senior captain Matt Viscusi.
"Matt is one of our smartest players. He is a field general for us at the defensive half and is a hard worker with exceptional character," said Miller.
Viscusi is the lone returning captain for St. John's and has tallied three goals and one assist in three years.
Juniors Reggie Davis and Nick Messinger along with sophomore Dan Kalata, will aid him in the position. Davis and Messinger have tallied 43 games of experience between them with two goals, one assist and 14 ground balls. Kalata will see increased minutes after a good fall season. The sophomore played in two contests as a freshman.
Defense
With the graduation of the Red Storm's steady starting defensemen Mike Luyster, Tim LaMare and Ryan Parker, there will be plenty of shoes to fill in front of the goal. Moving to close defense after having two years experience as a long stick midfielder, junior Jerry Nevin will lead the new class of St. John's defensemen. Nevin will be making his first appearance as a starter this season, but has seen the most playing time of all the defenders, playing in all 26 games of his career.
Sophomores Dan Cremens and Mike Sherry will also make the move to the starting roster. Both Cremens and Sherry saw minutes in most of the Red Storm's games lasts season. Redshirt freshman Carlin Cornetta, who sat out last season with a shoulder injury, will also make an impact. Cornetta lettered four years at Half Hallow Hills West High School in Dix Hills, N.Y., where he earned divisional and county honors and was the team Most Valuable Player as a senior in 2007.
Also adding depth to the defense is junior Marco Massaro and newcomers Tanner Seago and Mark Jackson Jr.
Long Stick Midfielders And Face-Offs
Senior captain Dom DeNapoli will take the lead as the Red Storm's most skillful specialist, seeing time as both a long stick midfielder and as the starting player at the face-off X. He's played in 39 games for St. John's and has been ranked in the top 100 of Division I lacrosse players in ground balls per game for two straight seasons. The most tenured of the Red Storm at the X, he had a .396 face-off win percentage last season and a .438 win percentage in 2007.
As a long stick middie, DeNapoli will be backed up by rookie Dan Viviano, a talented freshman who missed much of the fall with an ankle injury. From New Hyde Park, N.Y., Viviano earned Nassau-Suffolk Catholic High Schools Athletic Association (NSCHSAA) all-league honors in his junior season at Kellenberg Memorial High School and was named NSCHSAA Defensive Midfielder of the Year as a senior.
Sophomore Eric Schmit will be second in command at the face-off X.
"Eric is still pretty green, but we're looking to get him out there, and let him mix it up. He has the tools, what he needs now is the experience," said Miller. Schmit, a native of Deep Haven, Minn., played in six games as a rookie and won 3-of-6 draws at the X. At Minnetonka High School, he was a three-time all-state honoree and earned a high school All-America nod.
Goaltenders
Junior Gavin Buckley will lead the Red Storm between the pipes as he enters his second season as a starter. Last season, Buckley played in 10 games and started seven. He was the only non-senior on the team to earn ECAC weekly honors last year. He was also awarded Co-Defensive Player of the Week honors for his 11 saves and career-best save percentage (.523) in the league-win against Penn State (April 12).
"Gavin gets better and better each year. He played great in both games at the Lacrosse for Leukemia Tournament this fall. He is a great kid, and has turned into a very solid goalie for us," said Miller.
Buckley will be backed up by sophomore Steve Gartelman and freshman Max Carr. Gartelman missed the fall due to a knee injury, and played in just one game in 2008. He has made a lot of progress since walking on to the team last fall. Carr, another walk-on, is a native of Danvers, Mass., and played four seasons for the St. John's Prep Eagles, who were ranked fourth in the state after the 2008 regular season.
Schedule
The 2009 season is highlighted by seven home games, the most home contests since 1995, non-conference matchups against Notre Dame and Duke, and seven conference games in the Red Storm's final season in the ECAC Lacrosse League. In 2010, St. John's will participate in the newly formed BIG EAST Conference with fellow ECAC-foes Georgetown and Rutgers as well as Notre Dame, Providence, Syracuse and Villanova.
The home schedule includes three competitive conference opponents in Georgetown, Rutgers and Hobart, as well as strong non-league opponents in Drexel, who ended the season No. 18 in the Nike/Inside Lacrosse Media Poll and No. 15 in the USILA Coaches Poll, and Duke, a 2008 national semifinalist. The Red Storm will once again face five squads that ranked in the top 25 a year ago, giving the team a solid strength of schedule, in and out of conference.
St. John's kicks off the season at home with back-to-back scrimmages against NYIT, the 2008 Division II National Champion, at 10 a.m. and Long Island Division II rival C.W. Post at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 31 on DaSilva Memorial Field. The Red Storm hosts Lafayette on Feb. 7 in exhibition play before starting the regular season on the road at Holy Cross (Feb. 14).
St. John's plays at home the next three weekends against Quinnipiac (Feb. 21), Georgetown (Feb. 28) for its league-opener, followed by a tilt with Drexel (March 7). St. John's will finish March with one more ECAC contest at Loyola (March 14) before playing two more non-conference games, including a mid-week game at Siena (March 17) and a home game against another Patriot League foe, Lehigh (March 21).
The Red Storm will close out March at the Indians Rock Community Foundation Lacrosse Day of Champions at Manhasset High School in Manhasset, N.Y., hosting Rutgers in a competitive league match up on March 28.
Once again on the road, the Red Storm will face three conference contenders in a row as St. John's travels to Amherst, Mass., on April 4 to take on Massachusetts, and then to State College, Pa., to face the Penn State Nittany Lions the following weekend (April 11).
The squad will play two games in three days in mid-April as the Red Storm hosts Hobart on Friday, April 17, before traveling to Notre Dame, Ind., for a Sunday afternoon matchup against the Fighting Irish on April 19, the first meeting between the two teams.
St. John's will conclude league play on the road at Fairfield on April 25, and will play its regular-season finale hosting the Duke Blue Devils on May 3.
