St. John's University Athletics
St. John's University
Providence
St. John's Drops BIG EAST Opener at Providence
4/2/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse
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Box Score
PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- In a game that was unsettled at times and physical throughout, the St. John's Red Storm (1-9, 0-1 BIG EAST) dropped its BIG EAST opener at Providence, 15-10, on a rainy Saturday afternoon. This was the Friars (7-3, 1-0 BIG EAST) first win in 16 tries all-time against the Johnnies.
"Unfortunately again, our inability to put all the pieces together for 60 minutes did us in today. The two goals Providence scored in the last 30 seconds of the third quarter, and then two more quick ones in the first minute in the fourth quarter ended up killing us today," said Head Coach Jason Miller. "Our effort was great, we executed well for good-long stretches, but unfortunately all it takes is two bad minutes to swing momentum and change the game."
Colin Duffy, in his first career-start, led the way for the Red Storm attack as the freshman knotted a four-goal game with his first four career goals. The Springfield, Pa., native added an assist for a career-high five point day.
Will Mazzone was the game's leading scorer and ended the game with eight points on six goals and two assists.
Providence outshot the Johnnies, 43-37, in the contest and controlled the groundballs battle, 36-28. The Friars also won 17-of-29 faceoffs against three St. John's specialists: Justin Corpolongo, Jack Lally and Paul Tornatore. Tornatore was impressive in his four chances, winning three of them in the second half.
Both squads played back and forth early in the game as the first half saw a pair of lead changes and several ties before the Friars entered halftime with a one goal lead, 6-5.
Jackson O'Leary got the Red Storm off to a quick start as the junior attackman scored on a nifty low shot from the corner of the crease just two minutes into the game. This was the Johnnies first possession of the game with Zach Larsen assisting the goal. St. John's scored two more unanswered goals from James Bonanno and Jason DeBenedictis in the opening frame.
Providence would eventually answer this opening attack from St. John's, as the Friars scored two-straight just one minute apart near the 5:00 mark of the first frame. Starting goalie Joseph Danaher played a solid first quarter as he saved 5-of-7 in the opening frame.
Following a third-straight goal from the Friars, Duffy scored on the doorstep for St. John's from a DeBenedictis assist with 11:37 left in the second quarter. The freshman took this dump pass from the elbow of the crease, spun twice and shot falling down to give St. John's its second lead of the game, 4-3.
Less than two minutes later Duffy would assist a Tom Stackpole goal in front of the crease. Senior Chris Hughes picked up a groundball following a shot rebound and found Duffy at the top of the crease. Duffy then dumped off to Stackpole who finished low.
St. John's scored the majority of its chances on the doorstep of the goal, with a number of dump-down assists to wide-open shots. In all the Red Storm assisted nine of its 10 goals in the contest.
Providence scored three-straight to end the first half and entered halftime with a 6-5 lead. Danaher saved 9-of-15 in his 30:00 of play in the first half, but was credited with the loss.
The Friar's offense came alive in the second half and outscored St. John's, 9-5, en route to a victory. The game's final two quarters were very unsettled as the team's combined for 21 turnovers in the last 30:00 of play.
With just :20 left in the third quarter, Providence scored on a Michael Perettine goal to increase its lead to 9-6. The Friars then scored three more goals in the next minute of action, in both the third and fourth quarters, and essentially put the game away with a 12-6 lead.
Redshirt freshman Michael O'Keeffe started in between the pipes for Coach Miller in the second half. O'Keeffe played 19:03 before senior Harry Burke played the remaining 10:57 of play. Burke saved 4-of-6 in his second appearance this season.
Duffy scored three of his four goals in the final period including an unassisted rip on net with 0:52 left in the game. Bonanno also scored in the final minutes of play, notching his second goal and fourth point of the game with 2:55 left in action.
Duffy was not the only St. John's student-athlete to earn his first-career start today as both Larsen and Eric Moosbrugger received starting nods as well. Moosbrugger was one of six Red Storm players with at least three groundballs on the day, joining Justin Corpolongo (4), Danaher (3), DeBenedictis (3), Kyle Skramko (3) and John Saunders (3).
Saturday's loss marks the second-highest goal total for the Red Storm this season (10), besides the Red Storm's season-opening loss to Rutgers (11).
St. John's will host its BIG EAST home opener next Saturday, April 9, as the Marquette Golden Eagles travel to Queens for a noon matchup. The Johnnies will play a college-football fashion schedule the rest of the way with its remaining four games all on Saturdays.
Keep up with Red Storm lacrosse all season long at RedStormSports.com and on Twitter by following @StJohnsLax and using the hashtag "#SJULAX."
