St. John's University Athletics
St. John's University
2-1
Quinnipiac
0-2
St. John’s Takes Down Quinnipiac in Home Opener, 15-9
2/18/2025 6:27:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse
Brian Kelly, Mitch Campbell and Adrian Nowak each tallied five points for the Johnnies
QUEENS, N.Y. – The St. John's lacrosse team utilized a 6-2 run to close the game, defeating Quinnipiac, 15-9, in its home opener on Tuesday at Belson Stadium.
The 15 goals were the most the Johnnies have ever scored in a game at Belson, helping the Red Storm win its first home game of the year for the first time since 2020 and advance to 2-1 for the first time since 2019.
St. John's outshot Quinnipiac, 47-31, and won the groundball battle, 38-25
The Red Storm's starting attack once again led the way, totaling 11 points in the victory. Adrian Nowak, who entered the game with a BIG EAST-best 6.5 points per contest, scored his second hat trick of the season and added a pair of assists. The redshirt sophomore has a team-best 18 points and 12 assists this season to go along with six goals.
Brian Kelly found the back of the net four times and added a helper, reaching the five-point mark for the third time in three games in 2025. The Preseason All-BIG EAST selection has seven goals, nine assists and 16 points, all second best on the team.
Freshman sensation Ryan Ormond also scored for the team-high 12th time this season. The Red Storm attacking trio has 25 of the team's 40 goals through three games.
First-year midfielder Mitch Campbell also had a monster day, recording a pair of goals and three assists for the first multipoint game of his young career. Senior Bobby Seel had a score and two helpers for his first game in 2025 with multiple points. The three points against the Bobcats on Tuesday extended Seel's team-best point streak to 19 games, dating back to 2023.
After recording his first point with an assist on Saturday against Delaware, Jayson Cardenas found the back of the net for the first time in his young career on Tuesday, while freshman Danny Koch scored his second goal of the season. Four St. John's freshmen combined for eight points and four goals against Quinnipiac.
Dan Koban scored his third goal of 2025 and graduate student Drew Wasserman found his name on the scoresheet for the first time this season.
Defensively, Quinn Falasca continued the brilliant start to his first campaign in Queens, forcing a game-best four turnovers and scooping five ground balls. The Cornelius, N.C., native's seven caused turnovers is tied with Dylan Lee for the team's lead. Patrick Scarborough improved to 2-0 between the pipes this season, making eight saves. Sophomore Adam Dembicki won 12-of-22 faceoffs in the win.
Quinnipiac netminder Mason Oak made 16 saves on 31 shots faced, keeping the Bobcats in the game. Johnny Karafa and Jake Gallose each scored twice to lead the visitors.
The Bobcats struck first, scoring a transition goal to take a 1-0 lead just over five minutes into the opening period. Koban answered under two minutes later, bouncing a shot on the run into the twine, tying the game at 1. Koban has scored the team's opening goal in all three games this season. The Johnnies took their first lead of the afternoon at the 4:57 mark when Nowak found Cardenas on the doorstep. Nowak doubled the lead 29 seconds later, converting on the man-up, giving the home team a 3-1 lead after the first quarter. The Johnnies put nine shots on cage in the opening frame.
The teams remained scoreless for the first five minutes of the second quarter. A Lee-caused turnover sparked the fast break, leading to a Kelly finish off Nowak's second assist of the game, making the score 4-1 at the 9:59 mark of the second quarter. Quinnipiac got a goal back, but Campbell's score reestablished the three-goal lead. The Bobcats got one more tally to end the half, sending the teams into the locker rooms with the Johnnies up 5-3.
The halftime score lasted until 7:18 of the third quarter when Quinnipiac scored to get within one, 5-4. The Johnnies answered with four goals to extend the lead to five, 9-4. Zander Hauck forced a turnover which led to a Nowak breakaway goal, before Koch found the back of the net just 41 seconds later. Seel ripped a strike past Oak's left shoulder to extend the run, and Nowak ended the quarter with his third score of the afternoon.
Quinnipiac opened the final quarter with a 3-0 run of their own, but goals from Campbell, Kelly and Wasserman in a 1:45 span pushed the lead back to five, 12-7. The visitors scored on back-to-back possessions, making it 12-9 with seven minutes remaining. That was as close as the Bobcats would get, Ormond scored, and Kelly put a pair in the back of the net to close out the Red Storm's second win of the year.
With the win, the Johnnies get their first triumph over the Bobcats since 2009 and take a 3-2 lead in the all-time series.
St. John's will be back in action on Saturday when local rival Hofstra comes to Belson Stadium. Faceoff is set for 1 p.m. on ESPN+.
