St. John's University Athletics
St. John's University
Rutgers
St. John’s Renews Rivalry with Rutgers on Tuesday
3/10/2025 2:44:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse
The Johnnies and Scarlet Knights will meet for the 31st time on Tuesday in New Jersey
QUEENS, N.Y. – The St. John's lacrosse team will hit the road for the second time in four days on Tuesday when it travels to Piscataway, N.Y., for the 31st all-time meeting against Rutgers. Faceoff from SHI Stadium is set for 3 p.m.
The game between the former conference rivals will be streamed on B1G+, and live stats will be available on Redstormsports.com.
The Johnnies (2-5) are coming off a 9-6 setback against Bryant last Saturday. Freshman Jayson Cardenas continued his strong play as of late, netting a pair of goals, giving him eight on the season. Cardenas has four consecutive multipoint efforts and is sixth on the team with 11 points.
After missing last Tuesday's game against No. 17/17 Fairfield, Patrick Scarborough returned on Saturday and had a productive outing between the pipes, making 10 saves on 19 shots faced. In five starts this season, the Dickinson transfer has a 52.9 save percentage and has made 10 or more stops in four games.
Senior Bobby Seel dished a pair of assists on Saturday, extending his team-best point streak to 23 games, dating back to the 2023 season. Seel has been a balanced scorer in the St. John's midfield this season, totaling seven goals and seven helpers. His 14 points are the fourth most on the team.
The St. John's starting attack each recorded a point in Rhode Island over the weekend. Brian Kelly netted his team-leading 17th score of the year, while Adrian Nowak hit double digits with his 10th goal. Freshman Ryan Ormond dished his third assist of the season, giving him 16 points through the first five games of his career. Each of the three attackmen has received BIG EAST weekly awards this year. After the Red Storm's win against NJIT on Feb. 8, Nowak was named the conference's player of the week, while Ormond was tabbed freshman of the week. Kelly claimed player of the week honors following the team's win over Quinnipiac.
The trio, along with freshman Mitch Campbell, has accounted for 84 points so far through seven games and has netted 47 of the team's 76 goals in 2025. Kelly is 3rd in the country and third in the BIG EAST with 4.0 points per contest, while Nowak is 57th in Division I lacrosse and seventh in the conference with 3.4 points each game.
Dan Koban and Drew Wasserman each scored on Saturday, giving the two veterans five goals each on the season.
Freshman defenseman Quinn Falasca has continued to impress through the early part of the season, causing three turnovers and matching his season-best with six groundballs against the Bulldogs. Falasca's 2.14 caused turnovers per game is 16th in the nation and leads a St. John's defensive unit that causes a BIG EAST-best 9.43 giveaways each game. Dylan Lee has also caused havoc on the defensive end, ranking third in the conference with 1.7 caused turnovers per game.
The Red Storm's man-down unit is ninth in the country, allowing opponents to convert on just 18.2 percent of such situations. On Saturday, the unit allowed just one man-up goal to Bryant, after the Bulldogs entered the contest with a top-10 man-up squad in the country. On the season, opponents have converted just four of 22 power play opportunities against St. John's. The Red Storm's ride has also been elite this year, holding opponents to a 77.8 percent clearing rate, 10th best in Division I.
After starting the season with consecutive victories against Lehigh and LIU, the Scarlet Knights have dropped four of their last five, including two straight against St. Joe's and No. 4/4 Princeton.
Rutgers has the nation's sixth-best scoring defense this season, allowing less than 10 goals in five of its seven games this season. A big part of the Knights' success has been netminder Cardin Stoller, who has given up just 7.84 goals a game and stops 61.7 percent of the shots he faces. Ryan Splaine and Tommy Mendyke have 12 and 11 caused turnovers this season, respectively, to lead the defensive unit.
The Knights have struggled offensively in 2025, scoring 10 or fewer goals in each of its last five outings. JJ Aiello has a team-best 13 points on seven goals and six assists, while Colin Kurdyla has 10 points. 18 players have found the back of the net for Rutgers this year, while 23 have at least one point.
Rutgers also boasts the sixth-best faceoff unit in the country, winning 61.8 percent of draws. Matthew Paolatto has won 73 of the 110 faceoffs he has taken and has collected a team-high 39 groundballs.
Following Tuesday's contest against its most common opponent in program history, the Johnnies will return to Queens for its first-ever meeting against Mercer. Faceoff from Belson Stadium is set for 11:30 a.m.
