St. John's University Athletics
St. John's University
3-6, 0-0BIG EAST
Mercer
1-7, 0-0ASUN
Brian Kelly’s Career-High Nine Points Lead St. John’s Over Mercer, 20-16
3/15/2025 2:40:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse
Four Johnnies tallied at least four points in the win, leading the Red Storm to its highest goal total since 2013
QUEENS, N.Y. – Brian Kelly tallied a career-high nine points as the St. John's lacrosse team won a shootout over Mercer, 20-16, on Saturday afternoon at Cox Family Field at Belson Stadium.
The Johnnies (3-6) led by one at the break, but the defense took over in the second half, propelling the Red Storm to victory in the first-ever meeting between the two programs. Four St. John's players tallied at least four points, helping the Johnnies reach 20 goals for the first time since 2013.
Saturday's high-scoring affair featured 11 lead changes and 10 ties before the Red Storm went ahead for good midway through the third quarter.
In addition to his nine points, Kelly also set a new career mark with six helpers. Saturday was the senior's fourth hat trick of the season and the fifth time in nine games he has reached five points. Kelly has scored in 12 straight games for St. John's, dating back to the end of 2024, and leads the Johnnies with 38 points, 21 goals and 17 assists.
After being held to just one goal in each of the last two games, Adrian Nowak exploded for a career-best six goals on Saturday against the Bears. The six points give him 31 this season on 17 goals and 14 helpers, the first time he has reached the 30-point mark in his college career.
Bobby Seel matched his career high with six points on a hat trick and three assists, extending his team-best point streak to 25 games. Seel has been an all-around contributor this season, recording double digits in both goals (13) and assists (10).
Freshman Ryan Ormond found the back of the net four times on Saturday, the third time he has scored at least four in his rookie campaign. The freshman from North Carolina is up to 17 scores this year, tied with Nowak for second most on the team.
Fellow freshman Mitch Campbell had the second three-assist performance of his rookie season, while Jayson Cardneas added a goal to extend his point streak to eight games. Cardenas also had a season-best five groundballs.
For the first time in his two-year St. John's tenure, Drew Wasserman found the back of the net twice, giving him seven scores on the year on just 12 shots. LIU transfer Zander Hauck had his first career assist, and first-year LSM Wade Bryan scored a goal for the first time this season.
Adam Dembicki had a monster day at the faceoff dot, winning a career-high 22 draws on 30 attempts and scooping 11 groundballs, also a new career mark. After allowing 11 goals in the opening 30 minutes, Patrick Scarborough made eight saves in the second half and held Mercer to just five second-half tallies. His 16 saves mark the sixth time in seven starts this year he has reached double-digits, while Saturday was the fifth time he had a save rate of at least 50 percent.
Will Zylstra had six scores for the Bears (1-7), while Dillon Bush added five tallies of his own. Jack Sullivan had one goal but added four assists for the visitors. In net, Rand Paddack made 14 saves on 34 shots faced.
Mercer struck first, taking the opening faceoff and finding the back of the net 11 seconds later, but Nowak buried a feed from Seel and knotted the game at 1-1 at the 12:15 mark. On the ensuing faceoff, Bryan scooped the loose ball and sprinted the length of the field before scoring to give the Johnnies their first lead of the day. After the Bears scored to level the score at 2-2, Wasserman and Kelly found twine just 1:58 apart to give the Red Storm a 4-2 advantage six minutes into the game. Mercer netted two in less than a minute to tie the game for the third time, 4-4, but Campbell assisted Nowak's second of the morning to put St. John's back in front, 5-4. The teams continued to go back and forth as Seel scored to answer another Mercer goal. The Bears struck again, but Seel's third point of the first quarter gave the Red Storm a 7-6 lead after a high-scoring opening 15 minutes.
After Mercer evened the score again, 8-8, early in the second, back-to-back goals from Nowak and Ormond gave the home side a two-score advantage, 9-7, with 10 minutes left in the half. Seel scored the Johnnies' 10th goal of the first half to break a 9-9 tie, but three consecutive Mercer tallies gave the Bears the lead, 11-10. Campbell assisted Wasserman's second score of the game to bring the teams back level in the final minute of the half, 11-11. Ormond's found the back of the net for the second time with 10 seconds left to give St. John's the lead heading into the locker room, 12-11.
Mercer went back in front early in the third, 13-12, but the Johnnies orchestrated a 5-0 run to take their largest lead of the afternoon. Kelly scored unassisted to start the onslaught before Ormond finished in transition off Hauck's helper. Cardenas took a massive hit but was still able to convert, and Nowak found twine as the game clock expired in the third quarter to put the Johnnies up 16-13. After surrendering the two early goals, Scarborough made six straight saves and kept the Bears scoreless for the final 10:37 of the third frame.
Ormond started the fourth with an acrobatic score to finish the run and put St. John's up 17-13. Mercer finally broke through, but Kelly responded two minutes later for his seventh point of the afternoon. Two consecutive man-up scores from the Bears made it a two-goal game with five minutes left, 18-16, but a pretty feed from Kelly to Nowak put the Red Storm up three with under four minutes to go. The duo connected one more time to put a wrap on the Johnnies' third win of 2025.
St. John's will look to make it two-straight victories next Saturday when it heads to Ridgefield, Conn., for a neutral site showdown with Hobart. Faceoff from Ridgefield High School is set for 12 p.m.
