St. John’s Completes Comeback, Defeats UMass Lowell, 15-13

Saturday, March 23

Queens, N.Y. (DaSilva Memorial Field)

1 P.M.

St. John's University

4-4

University of Massachusetts Lowell

3-6

UML

ST. JOHN'S

St. John’s Completes Comeback, Defeats UMass Lowell, 15-13

3/23/2019 6:23:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

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St. John’s used a six-goal fourth quarter to complete the come-from-behind victory

By: Nicholas Diamantis

QUEENS, N.Y. – The St. John's lacrosse team earned its second home win of the season in dramatic fashion, coming from behind to defeat the UMass Lowell River Hawks, 15-13.

The Red Storm's win (4-4) marked the team's second come-from-behind victory of the season. St. John's last comeback occurred exactly one month ago today, as the Johnnies defeated No. 11/13 High Point on the road, 10-9.

"I thought we broke the gates poorly in the first and second half. Give credit to UMass Lowell," said Head Coach Jason Miller. "Fortunately, we rode hard enough and won enough faceoffs to have a chance to dig out of the hole and get the victory."

Declan Swartwood paced the way offensively for St. John's, as the midfielder ended the day with five goals and two assists. The senior from Bernardsville, N.J., eclipsed his career-high four goals that he set five days ago against Dartmouth.

After finishing with a career-high seven points in Tuesday's win, Mike Madsen netted four goals and dished out two assists. Joe Madsen and Colin Duffy each scored two goals and Jonathan Huber added a goal in the winning effort.

In total, seven Johnnies tallied points in the contest, including senior midfielder Luke Roediger, who recorded an assist on the first Red Storm goal of the game.

The Johnnies narrowly won the faceoff battle, winning 16 of its 30 attempts. Colin Bosak accounted for all but one of the team's 16 faceoff wins.

The Johnnies started the contest with the first goal for the seventh time this season, as Joe Madsen fired a shot past UMass Lowell goalkeeper Grant Lardieri at the 14:17 mark in the opening period. The River Hawks retaliated with five unanswered goals in less than six minutes of play in the first quarter. Swartwood and Mike Madsen each added a goal to stop the bleeding, making it a 5-3 contest heading into the second period.

The Johnnies and the River Hawks traded goals throughout the second quarter, both finishing with three scores each. Duffy scored both of his goals in the period and Joe Madsen scored the last goal of the first half, leaving the score, 8-6, at intermission.

Things looks disastrous for the Red Storm at the beginning of the second half as UMass Lowell scored three quick goals to give the visiting team its largest lead of the game, at 11-6.

St. John's never looked back after the River Hawks' Isaac Bot, Brandon Beland and Domenic Giachello scored three quick goals to start the period. The Johnnies, led by Swartwood and Mike Madsen, fired back with seven-straight, unassisted goals to retake the lead at 13-11 with 12:10 left in the fourth quarter.

The River Hawks would not go down without a fight as they would cut their deficit to one goal on two occasions in the final eight minutes of regulation. A Ryan Schaefer goal with 1:42 left in the game sealed the contest for St, John's, as the Johnnies finished the game with a two-goal advantage, 15-13.

The Red Storm finished the contest 1-for-3 on its man-up opportunities. The Johnnies' lone man-up goal (scored by Mike Madsen) sparked the dramatic comeback in the third quarter.

St. John's scooped up a total of 33 groundballs for the second-consecutive contest and finished 22-for-23 in clear opportunities.

Freshman netminder Brody Agres earned the fourth victory of his career and saved four shots in 60 minutes of action.

The Johnnies will play its first BIG EAST contest of the season, hosting the Providence Friars at DaSilva Memorial Field on Saturday, March 30, at 1 p.m.