St. John’s Downs Fairfield on the Road, 17-14

Tuesday, March 22

Fairfield, Conn. (Rafferty Stadium)

7 p.m.

St. John's University

2-6

Fairfield

5-4

St. John's

Fairfield

3/22/2022 11:09:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

Box Score

Johnnies break the game open with 6-0 run to start the fourth quarter

FAIRFIELD, Conn.- On Tuesday night, the St. John's offensive attack relentlessly responded in its 17-14 triumph on the road at Fairfield.

The Stags tied the score on four separate occasions, but the Red Storm offense answered every time and spurred on a six-goal run in the beginning of the fourth quarter to secure its first road win of the year.

Career days from Dylan Willis and Brian Kelly powered the Johnnies past the Stags at Rafferty Stadium. Willis recorded two goals and a career-high five assists. Kelly registered a season-high six points. The freshman proved clutch on the Johnnies fourth quarter run when he fired in three of his four goals.

St. John's (2-6) Leading goal-scorer Jonathan Huber rattled the cage once again. The redshirt senior moved to ninth in program history in goals after notching his third-career natural hat-trick.

After 11 consecutive games with a single point, sophomore midfielder Jack Lutfi got over the hump and registered a hat-trick and an assist. Patrick Ednie tallied two goals and dished one helper.

Reigning BIG EAST Freshman of the Week Kaden Quirk was solid in net, setting another career-high with 17 saves. The Nahant, Mass., native is averaging 12.6 stops over his last five contests.

Huber opened the scoring for the Red Storm on a dish from Kelly in the first quarter. The Johnnies trailed by as many three goals in the first quarter before turning the tides.

The Red Storm held the Stags scoreless for the final 10:58 of the second half and engineered a four-goal run during that time span. Willis fired in the go-ahead goal with 2:46 remaining in the half as the Johnnies held a 7-5 lead headed into the locker room.

After two quick Fairfield goals to knot it at seven, Lutfi fired one into the twine from long range to put the Johnnies back ahead, 8-7. On the next possession, short-stick defensive midfielder Matt Duncan ran down the middle and fired a low shot that whizzed by goaltender James Corasaniti.

Fairfield tallied the next two before Kelly took matters into his own hands scoring two unassisted goals, including a turnaround snipe to the top corner that put St. John's up, 11-9.

Two Stags goals brought the score back even heading into the final 15 minutes of play.

In the final quarter, the Johnnies relied on their two most prolific offensive weapons, Huber and Kelly, to provide a cushion. The Red Storm quickly exploded for four goals in the opening two minutes and 38 seconds of the fourth. The duo registered a point (3 G, 1 A) on every goal during that stretch to make it 15-11.

With 8:42 remaining, Kelly juked his way past two Stags defenders, set his feet and launched one into the top corner to extend the advantage to a five-goal cushion.

Quirk provided stops at key times as he halted the Stags attack on numerous occasions during the run. The netminder logged seven of his 17 saves in the final period.

Fairfield tallied the final three goals of the evening, but the deficit was too much to overcome.

On Saturday, the Johnnies will travel to the Sunshine State to take on nationally ranked no. 13/14 Jacksonville at 12 noon.