St. John's University Athletics
St. John's University
2-6
Binghamton
2-4
Bobby Seel’s Six Points Propels St. John’s Past Binghamton, 13-6
3/9/2024 3:45:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse
Kyle Munson made a season-best 15 saves between the pipes
QUEENS, N.Y. – Bobby Seel set a career-high with six points as the St. John's lacrosse team earned a come-from-behind victory against Binghamton, 13-6, on Saturday afternoon at Belson Stadium.
The Red Storm (2-6), trailed by as many as two goals late in the first half but a 5-0 third quarter run and a 6-0 stretch to finish the game propelled St. John's to its second win in the last three games.
Seel tallied the first four-goal performance of his career and recorded all six of his points in the second half. Through eight games, Seel's 15 goals are tied for the team lead and his 23 points are the most he has recorded in a season throughout his three-year career. The Garden City, N.Y. native extended his team-best point and goal streaks to nine games.
Brian Kelly scored three goals and added an assist for his fifth game with at least four points this season. Kelly has appeared on the scoresheet in seven consecutive games and now has 29 multi-point games in 36 career appearances. The junior leads the team in points (25), assists (10) and is tied with Seel on the goals leaderboard with 15. With the four points on Saturday, Kelly has 117 in his career which is tied with Tom Michaelsen for 10th most in program history.
Jake Wright made his first start of the season and netted a pair of goals for the second straight game. The Sophomore is up to five points this season which is a career best.
Senior midfielder Caleb Zuhoski scored his sixth and seventh goals of 2024. The Riverhead, N.Y., native's nine points are sixth most on the team through eight games.
Dane Armstrong scored his first goal in a St. John's uniform and had a strong performance at the faceoff 'X', winning 13-of-23 draws. On the season, Armstrong has won 51 percent of the 67 faceoffs he has taken. The Hardyston, N.J., product also scooped a team-best eight ground balls.
Drew Wasserman tallied his third score of the season on Saturday against the Bearcats.
In net, Kyle Munson was magnificent between the pipes, stopping 15 of the 21 shots he faced. The redshirt-junior finished with a .714 save percentage which sets a new St. John's career-best. Saturday also marked the ninth game since the start of 2023 in which Munson had a save percentage over 50 percent. The six goals Munson allowed are the fewest the Red Storm has given up in a game since defeating Dartmouth, 12-5, on March 17, 2018.
Dylan Lee and Jack McCarthy each caused a pair of turnovers while St. John's forced a season-best 10 Binghamton giveaways. Braeden Pratt and Seel each picked up three groundballs.
The Johnnies outshot the Bearcats, 46-41, and won the groundball battle, 33-25. St. John's outscored Binghamton, 10-2, in the second half, and 6-1 in the final quarter. The seven-goal win was the Red Storm's largest margin of victory since beating Siena, 16-9, on March 7, 2020.
With the win, the Johnnies evened the all-time series with Binghamton, 1-1.
Liam Ferris tallied a three-goal performance for the Bearcats (2-4) while Adam Gabe netted a pair of goals and added an assist. Connor Winters made 13 saves between the pipes.
After Binghamton opened the scoring 3:35 into the game, Kelly knotted the score at one, scoring off a move from behind the net. Zuhoski gave the Johnnies their first lead of the afternoon 58 seconds later, but Binghamton tied the score, 2-2 with 8:33 remaining in the opening frame. Munson made five saves in the low-scoring first quarter.
The defensive battle continued early in the second quarter as Munson made three acrobatic saves in the first 2:30 of the frame to keep the game squared at two. The Bearcats broke the 17-minute deadlock with just under seven minutes remaining in the half, netting a man-up goal to take a 3-2 lead and doubled its advantage 3:12 later. Kelly's second of the game with 1:47 remaining ended the Bearcats' run and brought St. John's back within one heading into the locker rooms, 4-3.
The Johnnies tied the game early in the third quarter when Wright buried a shot from the right side off a feed from Seel. 2:11 later, Wasserman bounced one into the twine on Seel's second helper of the quarter to give the Red Storm a 5-4 lead. Wright's second goal with 8:59 left in the third quarter gave St. John's its fourth-straight score and a 6-4. The Johnnies tallied their fifth-straight goal on Seel's second of the game with 5:11 left in the quarter but Binghamton ended the Red Storm's run 27 second later to make the score 7-5 heading into the fourth.
The Bearcats cut their deficit to one 5:17 into the final quarter but Kelly responded with his third of the game to give the Johnnies a two-goal advantage, 8-6. Seel netted a pair of goals 1:10 apart to stretch the lead to four and Zuhoski gave the Red Storm a five-goal advantage 57 seconds later, 11-6. Late goals by Seel and Armstrong iced the second win of the season for St. John's. Armstrong won six of eight faceoffs in the final frame to help the Johnnies complete the comeback.
The Red Storm will return to action on March 16 in the City of Brotherly Love against Saint Joseph's. Faceoff from Sean Sweeny field is set for noon and the game will be streamed on ESPN+.
