Torch

Issue date: 4/16/08 Section: Sports

With two minutes left on the clock at DaSilva
Memorial Field on Saturday, the home sideline was already jumping around and raising their sticks in the air, sensing their first victory of the season.

With a four-goal lead, all the St. John's lacrosse team had to do was survive a final array of Penn State shots before carrying the ball into the Nittany Lions' territory to run out the rest of the clock. When they did so, all 40 Johnnies mobbed each other in front of their net to celebrate their 11-7 win.

After accepting some post-game congratulations, second-year head coach Jason Miller stood much taller with the weight of a winless season off his back. For Miller, this victory was long overdue for such a hard-working and dedicated team.

"Intensity was never the issue for us," Miller said. "Every time out we've been ready to play. The difference today was we got off to a good start; we weren't digging out of a hole. It's a lot easier to play that way. It's just hard to play with a lot of enthusiasm when you're down."

St. John's was only down once, in fact. Penn State took the early lead with some artistic offense. Nittany Lion's Matt Loy took a pass and scored on a behind-the-back shot while on the run to put Penn State up 1-0. The ensuing face-off would set the tone for the Red Storm throughout the game.

Senior face-off specialist Jack Rosson knocked opposing players away and scooped up the ball, made a beeline for the Penn State net and scored his fifth goal of the season. Rosson finished the day 11-for-21 at face-offs, but Miller credited the team's quick start to Rosson's dominating play early on.

"He got off to a really good start," Miller said. A scouting report recognized Penn State's tendency to run with the ball off the face-off and Rosson was able to neutralize that method of attack. "He's been good for stretches, but this is the first time he's been very good for 60 minutes," Miller said about Rosson.

Another key in the victory was converting man-advantage opportunities -something St. John's has not done well so far this season. The first of three power-play goals came while Penn State was serving a slashing penalty, when senior Justin O'Donnell found some space and put the Johnnies up 2-1.

The first quarter ended with St. John's and Penn State both scoring one more.

Up 3-2, St. John's failed to kill their first man-down situation. It took Penn State's Max VanArsdale only eight seconds into the cross-checking penalty to tie the score at three.

Continued...

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