St. John's University Athletics
St. John's University
1-5
Queens
1-3
St. John’s Takes Down Queens for its First Win of the Season
2/28/2024 7:39:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse
Attackman Adrian Nowak scored five goals for the Red Storm
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Adrian Nowak tallied the first five-goal performance of his career as the St. John's lacrosse team defeated Queens on Wednesday, 11-8, for its first victory of the season.
Eight different players recorded a point for the Red Storm (1-5) in the win and three players tallied multi-point efforts.
In addition to his five goals, Nowak earned his first assist of the season. The redshirt-freshman's six points match Brian Kelly's six points against Hofstra for the most by a Red Storm player in a game this season. Nowak also became the first freshman to record at least four goals in a single game since Kelly did it against Fairfield on March 22, 2022. The Wantagh, N.Y., native is now up to nine goals on the season, tied for second on the team.
Kelly had a strong game of his own, scoring a goal and matching his career-best with four assists to finish with five points. Wednesday marked the fourth game with at least four points for the Red Hook, N.Y., native this season. Through six games, Kelly leads the Red Storm in goals (12), assists (9) and points (21).
Bobby Seel scored a goal and added a pair of helpers to extend his team-best goal and point streaks to seven games. Through six games, Seel has nine goals which surpasses his goal total from last season and his 15 points match his scoring total from 2023.
Drew Wasserman and Luke Mangan each scored their second goal of the season while freshman Richie Reid added a score for the fourth time in 2024. Senior Caleb Zuhoski scored his fifth goal of the season, good for fourth most on the team. Kyle Wasilewski and Caiden Vlasimsky each tallied a helper.
Adam Dembicki had an impressive showing at the faceoff 'X', winning 12-of-22 draws, his third game winning 12 or more faceoffs. Dembicki also scooped three groundballs, the fifth straight contest the freshman has grabbed multiple loose balls.
Kyle Munson made nine saves on 17 shots faced between the pipes to earn the win in net for the Red Storm. Munson also scooped a game-high seven groundballs.
The Red Storm continued its excellence on the clear this season, converting all 22 opportunities against the Royals. It is the first time this season the Johnnies had a perfect clear percentage in a game. St. John's has been successful on 87.6 percent of its clear attempts this year.
For the Royals Brendan Nace, Callin Harris, and Ryan McDaniel each tallied multi-point games and Wesley Wheat made 11 saves in net.
After Queens opened the scoring 1:29 into the game, the Red Storm won the ensuing faceoff and tied the game at one when Reid scored off a strong move from the right side. St. John's took its first lead of the afternoon on its next possession as Kelly buried a feed from Nowak on a fast break. The Royals tied the game at two, before Mangan scored off an assist from Kelly to regain the lead it never relinquished for the Red Storm, 3-2. The Johnnies scored again about five minutes later when Nowak fired a rocket past Wheat on a feed from Wasilewski. Nowak tallied his second of the afternoon 71 seconds later on the man-up advantage to extend the lead to 5-2. Kyle Munson made three saves in the opening quarter.
Nowak completed his hat trick just over five minutes into the second frame, scoring off Kelly's third helper of the afternoon. Just over two minutes later, Zuhoski scored the fifth straight goal for the Johnnies, making the score 7-2. The Royals ended the St. John's run with 1:29 in the frame, netting their first goal of the second quarter and making the score 7-3 heading into the locker rooms.
Seel scored the first goal of the third quarter 1:08 after halftime, burying a shot from the right side off a feed from Vlasimsky. The Red Storm continued to roll as Wasserman bounced one into the twine, capping off an 8-1 run for the Red Storm to take its largest lead of the day, 10-3. Three quick goals from Queens brought the Royals within four, 10-6, heading into the final frame.
Queens brought itself within three early in the fourth, 10-7, scoring its fourth-straight goal with 9:52 left but Nowak's fifth tally of the game ended the Royals' run and gave the Johnnies an 11-7 lead with 6:34 to play. A late goal by Queens reduced the lead to 11-8 but the Red Storm were able to close out the final 1:21 to earn its first victory of 2024, marking the first-career win for Head Coach Justin Turri.
The Red Storm will look to make it two-straight on Saturday when it visits Jacksonville. Faceoff from Rock Stadium is set for noon.
