The St. John’s lacrosse team won its biggest game to date on April 3, at the New Meadowlands Stadium.

The Red Storm defeated Rutgers 9-8 in the first game of the Konica Big City Classic, which also featured Johns Hopkins, North Carolina, Duke and Syracuse.

With 6:05 left in the fourth quarter, Kieran McArdle found Keith Switzer for what proved to be the game-winning goal.

“I thought that was a pretty good game start to finish,” said head coach Jason Miller. “I was a little bit concerned that the event would become bigger than the game and I was really pleased with the way our guys responded, especially early.”

Junior Charlie Holenstein  netted a first quarter hat trick to put St. John’s (3-6, 1-1)  up 4-2. He finished the game with four goals and was named the Big City Classic’s Player of the Game, a performance that landed him on the Big East’s Weekly Honor Roll.

Rutgers’ Scott Klimchak took a 1-0 lead seven seconds into the game, but the Red Storm responded five seconds later as Matt Hurst tied it. The Red Storm never trailed after that.

Rutgers nearly tied the game late, as Scott and Matthew Klimchak scored late goals to bring the game to 9-8. Scott scored his on a man up opportunity with 46 seconds left in the game. The Scarlet Knights got the ball back with 35 seconds left and called a timeout.

Trying to set up the game tying goal an errant pass by Duncan Clancy gave St. John’s the ball back with 23 seconds left and they ran out the clock for the win.

Goalie Jeff Lowman had 10 saves. McArdle had a goal and four assists while Kevin Cernuto and Colin Keegan also registered goals for the Red Storm.

“We absolutely wanted to make a statement, to get on this stage and to share the stage with teams like Syracuse and Duke and Hopkins and Carolina,” Miller said. “Its awesome, it’s awesome for our guys, it’s awesome for our program, it’s awesome for everyone associated with St. John’s.”