Anthony Parelli
Assistant Sports Editor
The surging St. John’s men’s lacrosse team hit a snag Saturday in Long Island, losing an overtime heartbreaker 14-13 to Georgetown.
The game took place at Bethpage High School and was aptly titled “The Battle of Bethpage.”
Highlighting the loss was goalie Jeff Lowman; who’s five first half saves gave him a career total of 587, which put him atop the all time saves list in St. John’s history. Unfortunately for the Storm, Lowman exited the game after the first half with concussion-like symptoms.
Another bright spot for the Johnnies was the continued high level play of Kieran McArdle. The junior attacker tallied eight points on the day (five assists and three goals) to pace all scorers and earn game MVP honors. McArdle’s big day gave him 70 points on the season through 10 games.
Ryan Fitzgerald and Kevin Cernuto both tallied three goals apiece, which, combined with McArdle’s three gave St. John’s three players with a hat trick. Cernuto’s was his sixth of the season.
Other goal scorers for St. John’s were James Bonanno, Brandon Ayers, Keith Switzer and Alex Lagodich.
Lagodich started the scoring a minute and a half in for what would be a nine goal first quarter between the two teams. The pace never slowed as St. John’s went into halftime clinging to an 8-7 lead and finished the game ahead in shots 45-41.
Stepping in between the pipes for St. John’s was freshman Harrison Burke who, before Saturday, had only totaled four minutes of game action on the season. Burke tallied seven saves in the half and performed valiantly.
St. John’s had the lead heading into the final minute of play but a breakout goal with seven seconds remaining by Georgetown’s Charles McCormick sent the game into overtime where Dan McKinney found the back of the net on Georgetown’s first extra time possession.
The outcome was a bit of revenge for the Hoya’s who lost to the Red Storm in almost identical fashion a season ago. St. John’s trailed by two in the final minute but was able to rattle off two quick scores and another on their first overtime possession.
The loss brings the St. John’s to 7-3 on the season.
St. John’s next opponent will be home vs. Villanova on Saturday at 3:00.
