St. John’s Drops Tough Battle to No. 13/14 Delaware, 16-9

Saturday, February 18

Newark, Del. (Delaware Stadium)

12 p.m.

St. John's University

0-2

No. 13/14 Delaware

3-0

St. John's

DELAWARE

St. John’s Drops Tough Battle to No. 13/14 Delaware, 16-9

2/18/2023 4:08:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

Brian Kelly and Sean Duffy each tallied a hat-trick on Saturday

NEWARK, Del.- The St. John's lacrosse team fell to No. 13/14 Delaware by a score of 16-9 at Delaware Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Sophomore attackman Brian Kelly continued his excellent start to the season, notching his first hat-trick of the season by scoring three times in the first 30 minutes of play. Kelly has now registered four games in which he has scored three or more goals in just 16 career starts.

Sean Duffy matched Kelly's total with his first three goals in a St. John's uniform. The Hampden-Sydney transfer fired eight shots; six were on target with three finding the back of the net. The graduate student has logged at least one point in 32 of his last 33 games going back to his tenure with Hampden-Sydney.

Three other Johnnies found paydirt as Braden Fitzsimmons, Gavin Legg and Caleb Zuhoski each scored their first goals of the season. Four Johnnies, Billy Mahecha, Luke Mangan, Bobby Seel and Caiden Vlasimsky, each dished out one assist.

Kyle Munson started his second straight game in the cage and set a new career-high with 15 saves. Munson's total marks the first time a Red Storm netminder has racked up 15 saves since Kaden Quirk against Denver on April 16, 2022.

The national leader heading into the weekend, Jack Schirtzer led the team with three caused turnovers while Legg showed his versatility with two caused turnovers.

For the second straight game, the Red Storm opened the scoring in the first quarter as Kelly scored his first of the day on an acrobatic effort from the left wing less than a minute into the contest.

Delaware responded with its first two tallies of the afternoon to vault in front, 2-1, with 9:42 remaining in the opening period.

Kelly evened things at two less than a minute later on a sweet feed from Vlasimsky, his second helper of the year.

After a Blue Hens goal, Duffy found the back of the net for the first time in 2023 to knot the score at three with 3:56 to go in the first.

The back-and-forth quarter ended with a Delaware goal by Tye Kurtz to make the score 4-3 in favor of the Blue Hens heading into the final 15 minutes of the first half.

Kurtz opened the second period with a goal before Legg quickly answered back to cut the Red Storm deficit to one, 5-4, with 10:38 to go.

After an extended scoreless stretch, Kelly completed his hat-trick and tied the game at five with less than five minutes to go before the halftime whistle.

As it had all afternoon, Delaware answered back with its sixth goal of the contest to hold a slim edge, 6-5, heading into the halftime locker room.

In the third quarter, the Blue Hens scored three straight times to expand its advantage to 9-5 with 9:17 left.

Less than a minute later, Duffy put an end to the Delaware outburst with his second score of the game to put St. John's within striking distance, 9-6.

The Blue Hens ended the third with a 3-0 run to cushion its lead, 12-6, heading into the final quarter of the afternoon.

The Red Storm showed some fight to start the fourth as Duffy scored his third goal of the afternoon, and Zuhoski followed up with his first of the season to trim the deficit to 12-8 with 12:37 remaining in the contest.

That was as close as the Johnnies would get as Delaware scored four consecutive goals to push the game out of reach.

Fitzsimmons found the back of the net late on a nice pass from Mahecha to make the score 16-9, but St. John's ran out of time against the No. 13/14 team in the nation.

The Red Storm will be back in action next Saturday when it opens up its home slate against the Hofstra Pride at 1 p.m.