St. John's University Athletics
St. John's University
4-8
RV Denver
6-5
St. John’s Drops Home Contest to RV Denver, 14-7
4/5/2025 3:04:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse
Caiden Vlasimsky tallied four points for the Red Storm in his first game of the season
QUEENS, N.Y. – The St. John's lacrosse team fell to RV Denver, 14-7, at a rainy Cox Family Field at Belson Stadium on Saturday in Queens.
Prior to the game, St. John's President, Reverend Brian J. Shanley, OP, and other university staff honored lacrosse alumnus Tom Cox and dedicated the newly named Cox Family Field at Belson Stadium with a pregame ceremony.
The Johnnies (4-8, 0-2 BIG EAST) trailed by just two at the intermission and outscored the Pioneers in the second quarter, but a 7-2 second-half run propelled Denver to its first BIG EAST victory of the season.
In his first game of the season, Caiden Vlasimsky tallied four points on a career-best three helpers and a goal to lead the St. John's offense.
After being held without a goal last week against Marquette, Brian Kelly went for his sixth hat trick of the season and eighth performance eclipsing the three-point mark. With the three goals, Kelly set a new career-best with 49 points in 2025 and leads the Johnnies with 28 goals and 21 helpers.
Bobby Seel added two points on a score and an assist, running his team-best point streak to 28 games, dating back to 2023. The senior midfielder is third on the team with 30 points and has nine multi-point outings in his last 10 games.
Adrian Nowak found twine and dished an assist against the Pioneers for his 35th and 36th points of the season and his eighth multi-point effort of 2025, while Dan Koban scored for the ninth time this season.
Defensively, Dylan Lee caused a team-high two turnovers, giving him 18 on the season, and freshman Quinn Falasca picked up his 19th forced giveaway of his rookie campaign.
In the cage, Patrick Scarborough made 11 saves for his eighth consecutive game with double-digit stops.
Cody Malawky and Noah Manning each recorded three-goal, one-assist performances for Denver (6-5, 1-1 BIG EAST), while Daniel Clark added a hat trick of his own. Michael Kraus won 12-of-16 faceoffs and netminder Malcolm Kleban made 12 stops on 19 shots faced.
The Pioneers scored the game's first two goals before Kelly cut the Red Storm's deficit in half with a diving shot across the crease. The visitors scored two straight in the final 1:12 of the opening quarter to take a 4-1 lead after the first frame.
The teams played a scoreless second quarter until Seel broke the deadlock with a snipe from the left side at the 4:06 mark. Denver responded 40 seconds later before Kelly netted his second of the afternoon on Vlasimsky's second helper of the quarter to bring the Johnnies within two, 5-3, at the half. Scarborough made four saves in the second frame and gave up just one score.
Denver came out of the locker rooms with two scores in the first three minutes of the third quarter to take a 7-3 lead. The Johnnies got one back as Koban ripped a lefty shot from the slot on Vlasimsky's third assist of the afternoon, but the Pioneers rattled off two more goals to go up 9-4. Vlasimsky found twine late and Denver scored with two seconds left in the frame to make it 10-5 after three.
The visitors tacked on one more to take an 11-5 advantage just 15 seconds into the final quarter. Nowak capitalized on a loose ball scrum and put one past Kleban, but three more Denver goals put the Pioneers up 14-6 with 3:14 remaining. A late score from Kelly made it 14-7, but the Johnnies were unable to crawl any closer as Denver closed out its 12th all-time victory against St. John's.
The Red Storm will be back in action next Saturday when it heads down I-95 to take on Villanova in Villanova, Pa. Faceoff from Villanova Stadium is set for 12 p.m.
