St. John's University Athletics
St. John's Hosts Rutgers In ECAC Battle
3/27/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse
March 27, 2009
- Game Notes (PDF)
- Watch Rutgers Preview with head coach Jason Miller (FREE)
- St. John's Highlights Indians Rock Foundation Lacrosse Day of Champions
- Sports Webcasting Network To Air Lacrosse Day of Champions
- Watch Rutgers Preview with senior midfielder Malcolm Miles (FREE)
- Watch Rutgers Preview with rookie attackman Harry Kutner (FREE)
QUEENS, N.Y. - St. John's men's lacrosse will host Rutgers in an ECAC Lacrosse contest as the feature game of the second annual Lacrosse Day of Champions, held at Manhasset High School in Manhasset, N.Y. The event is sponsored by the Indians Rock Community Foundation and the Boomer Esiason Foundation. Face-off is slated for noon.
Saturday's contest will be broadcast on-demand by the Sports Webcasting Netowrk on Sunday as part of the Lacrosse Day of Champions coverage on www.sportswebnet.com. SWN Director Rob Goldenberg will call all the action from Manhasset's field. Live, Free in-game stats will also be available via GameTracker on www.RedStormSports.com.
St. John's (5-2, 1-1 ECAC) is coming off a tough overtime loss to the Lehigh Mountain Hawks on March 21. The Red Storm rallied back from a four-goal deficit in the first period to finally take the lead with just over a minute to play. Lehigh scored a last second goal in regulation to send the game to overtime, where they scored 24 seconds into the extra period. Rutgers (2-6, 1-1 ECAC) will be looking to rebound off a mid-week loss, 13-6, at the hands of the Princeton Tigers. On March 21, Rutgers upset then-No. 14 Hobart on the road, 5-4, to ruin Hobart's perfect season.
The Series Against Rutgers
Saturday's meeting is the 17th in the series between the two teams. Rutgers has a 15-1 advantage over St. John's in a history dating back to 1984. St. John's tallied its only win over Rutgers on March 31, 2007 with a historic 6-4 victory on DaSilva Memorial Field. The win marked the Red Storm's first-ever conference victory.
Since 2005, the games between Rutgers and St. John's have been tough, with a total difference of nine goals in four games.
Last season, Rutgers edged past St. John's, 9-6, on March 29, despite the Red Storm's five-goal scoring-run in the third period. Both teams were scoreless in the final quarter. Justin O'Donnell led St. John's in scoring with two goals on 10 shots. Midfielders Malcolm Miles and Trevor Michaelsen were second with one goal and one assist each. Dan Goldberg was between the pipes for St. John's where he stopped 13 shots in 60 minutes of play. The St. John's man-down defense held Rutgers to 0-7 in man-up opportunities. Billy Olin, then a sophomore for Rutgers, had nine saves for the Scarlet Knights. Kory Kelly and Jeff Rommel led the Scarlet Knights with two goals each. Ted Stanwick tallied two assists and one goal.
Last Time Out
St. John's went 1-1 in two non-conference games last week, with both games being decided by one goal.
Against Lehigh on March 21, St. John's rallied back from a 4-0 first-period deficit. Down the majority of the game, St. John's went on a run in the second half to take the lead with 6:11 left in the fourth period. Freshman Harry Kutner scored five goals in the run, including the go-ahead goal with 1:13 left in regulation.
St. John's initially tied Lehigh with 9:58 left in the fourth period with a goal by Carl Iacona to tie it at 7-7. Senior Malcolm Miles gave the Red Storm the 8-7 lead at 6:11.
Lehigh and St. John's traded goals until the very end, where Lehigh scored with under a second left to take the game to OT, where it won its second-straight overtime game in a week.
At Siena on March 17, St. John's had to come from behind once again, this time to win, 8-7, in Loudonville, N.Y. Down by one goal at the half, St. John's defense held Siena scoreless in the third period, paving the way for the Red Storm's one-goal victory. Senior captain Jamal Jones had a career day for St. John's, scoring two key goals in the third period.
Scouting The Scarlet Knights
After a big road win against previously undefeated Hobart on March 21, Rutgers fell on Tuesday at home to No. 5 Princeton. Sophomore Kory Kelly netted his third hat trick of the year to pace the Scarlet Knights. Kelly has registered a team-high 15 goals on the year and has five games in which he has scored at least two goals.
Kelly has 16 points on the season with 15 goals and one assist. Justin Pennington is tied in points with seven goals and a team-high nine assists.
Junior goalkeeper Billy Olin was named ECAC Co-Defensive Player of the Week on Monday after making six saves in the first half against Hobart on March 31. Olin held the Statesmen scoreless for the first 37:48 minutes of the game. He gave up just four goals to a team that had averaged nine goals per game as Rutgers defeated Hobart on the road, 5-4. Olin is backed up by Peter Pantages who has started three games.
StormTracker Stat Of The Week
16: With 17 points (13 goals, four assists), senior midfielder Trevor Michaelsen is 16 points away from tying Glen Falcone for No. 17 John's all-time leading scorers list. The Bethpage, N.Y., native is also 16 goals away from tying Jim Casa and David Graham at the No. 10 spot in all-time career goals scored. Michaelsen has already tied his point-total from last season with seven games left to play.
Harry Kutner: Co-ECAC Player of the Week
Rookie Harry Kutner, a Garden City, N.Y., native, earned conference player of the week honors after his career day in St. John's first overtime game since April 23, 1994. Kutner tallied five goals, with his final score giving St. John's the 9-8 lead with 1:13 to play in regulation. For the week, Kutner had eight points off six goals and two assists. At Siena, the freshman helped St. John's come from behind and take the lead in the third quarter, assisting on Jamal Jones' goal at 11:50 in the third to tie the score at three, then scoring man-up five minutes later to give the Red Storm its first lead of the game at 7:41.
Season Check Point - Around The ECAC
The 2009 season has reached its midway point and the race for the conference title is tighter than it has been in a couple years. Fairfield and UMass lead the league with two wins and no losses in conference action. Behind them is Loyola with two ECAC wins and a loss to UMass. In a three-way tie is Hobart, St. John's and Rutgers with a 1-1 mark in the league. St. John's has one of best overall records at 5-2 with a .714 win percentage.
Saturday's contest against Rutgers sparks a four-game conference swing that ends in mid-April with a non-conference matchup at Notre Dame.
With no conference play-off, head-to-head results will determine the ECAC's automatic qualifier. A three-way tie will be determined by record comparison, competition among common opponents and national RPI.
On Deck
St. John's will travel to Amherst, Mass., for the first of two-straight ECAC away contests. The Red Storm will take on the UMass Minutemen, currently ranked No. 14 in both the USILA Coaches Poll and Inside Lacrosse/Nike Media Poll. Face-off is slated for 1 p.m. on Richard F. Garber Field.
