When the No. 16 St. John’s men’s lacrosse team traveled to face the Loyola Greyhounds on Saturday, there were glimpses where the Red Storm, then 4-0, looked a lot like last year’s 2-11 team.
St. John’s suffered their first lost of the season, falling to the Loyola Greyhounds, 10-7. With the loss, the Red Storm slip to 4-1 (1-1 ECAC) while No. 14 Loyola improves to 5-2 and stands undefeated in the conference.
The Red Storm started the game off slow – not winning face-offs, making errors – and then put themselves in a hole that they couldn’t climb out of. They would start to make a run and cut the score, but then fatigue would end up catching up with them.
“We’re obviously disappointed not to get the win,” head coach Jason Miller said. “We had plenty opportunities, and its frustrating not to have capitalized. We got off to a good start, and then the wheels came off for a stretch in the second quarter. We fought back hard, but the second quarter really hurt us.”
St. John’s led in the first quarter, 2-0, but after a six-goal run from the Greyhounds in the second period, the Red Storm were not able to recover.
“It was in the seconnd quarter where we had trouble clearing, and we couldn’t get into a rhythm offensively because they dominated in time of possession,” junior goalie Gavin Buckley, who finished the game with a career-high 18 saves, said. “They dominated that quarter, and I think that was where they won the game.”
Offensively, the Red Storm was led by a balanced attack. Seniors Drew Schanen and Trevor Michaelsen each had two goals while senior Malcolm Miles, sophomore Terence Leach, and freshman Carl Iacona each had a goal. Iacona and classmate Harry Kutner each added an assist.
After the second period, the attack fought back and cut the score to 8-7 with 10:07 left to play.
Loyola would respond with three unanswered goals to cut any hope of a Red Storm comeback.
“It was a tough game, and a tough loss against a very good opponent,” Buckley said. “We played very hard and the effort was there, we just made too many mistakes to win the game.
“We had our chances, and fought back to make it 8-7 in the 4th quarter, but against a good team like Loyola you can’t make a lot of mistakes and expect to win. We have to keep our heads up though, and focus on the next game.”
