St. John’s Drops BIG EAST Opener at No. 6/6 Villanova, 18-8

Saturday, April 1

Villanova, Pa. (Villanova Stadium)

1 p.m.

St. John's University

(0-10, 0-1BE)

No. 6/6 Villanova

(8-2, 1-0BE)

St. John's

Villanova

St. John’s Drops BIG EAST Opener at No. 6/6 Villanova, 18-8

4/1/2023 4:39:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Gallery Photo Gallery

Kyle Munson makes 20 saves, the most by a St. John’s goalkeeper since 2007

VILLANOVA, Pa.- The St. John's lacrosse team dropped its BIG EAST opener on Saturday afternoon to No. 6/6 Villanova, 18-8.

Kyle Munson stopped a career-high 20 shots on a sunny Saturday in Pennsylvania, the most by any Red Storm goaltender since Dan Goldberg made 23 saves against Drexel on March 10, 2007.

Munson's 20 saves surpassed his previous career-best of 16 that he set two weeks ago against Saint Joseph's Over the last three games, the senior is averaging 16.3 saves per contest.

Sean Duffy logged a season-high five points fueled by a hat-trick in the opening half. The graduate student midfielder added two assists on the day to lead the team in points.

Bobby Seel and Connor Kalmus each added two goals for the Red Storm at Villanova Stadium. Seel has tallied six points over his last two appearances and Kalmus is up to 17 goals on the year, which ranks second on the team.

Gavin Legg tallied one goal and one assist on the road against the Wildcats. The two points marked a career-high for the long-stick midfielder, who also set a personal record with five groundballs.

Brian Kelly extended his point streak to 11 games with an assist in the third quarter. Kyle Wasilewski and Caleb Zuhoski each tallied a single helper against the Wildcats

Villanova opened the game with a pair of goals before Duffy fired in an unassisted rocket for the first of his opening half hat-trick. Munson held strong in the first 15 minutes only letting three goals past on 15 shots faced.

The Wildcats engineered a scoring flurry in the opening minutes of the second frame before Seel sent one home off a dish from Duffy to halt the run. Duffy logged two more goals during the second stanza but the Wildcats extended their advantage late in the half and took a 9-4 lead to the locker room.

In the third quarter, Seel started off the scoring to make it 9-5. Villanova quickly responded as Matt Campbell tallied his third of the day to become the all-time leading point scorer in Wildcats' history. Trailing by five midway through the third, Kalmus found the back-of-the-net for the first time before the home squad spurred six-straight goals that spanned into the fourth quarter and put the contest out of reach.

During the fourth quarter, Legg and Kalmus each capitalized on the fastbreak to complete the scoring for the Johnnies.

The Red Storm will travel to meet another conference foe next weekend when it heads to Marquette for a 12 p.m. ET face-off on April 8.