After a thrilling road victory over Rutgers on April 3, the St. John’s lacrosse team used that momentum to pick up its second conference victory over Providence on Saturday 13-5.
“This was one of those days where things just kind of lined up for us. The weather was good, it was a Big East home game, we had a chance to get back to .500,” said Head Coach Jason Miller. “We stayed in the hunt for the conference, and in the big picture, .500 keeps us in the hunt for the postseason. We knew today was going to be a big game and it was.”
With the win, the Red Storm improved to 5-5 overall and 2-1 in Big East
play, while the Friars remain winless
at 0-8.
Sophomore attacker Harry Kutner led the way for St. John’s on offense, scoring a season-high four goals and an assist.
Charlie Holenstien, Tyler Novotny, Alex Lagodich and Ryan Herits each added two goals while Dillon Ayers chipped in a goal and two assists. He also added seven ground balls and caused four turnovers.
“Offensively we got off to a great start and we shot the ball well early,” said Miller.
“The riding game was big. We kept the pressure on a lot of the time and ended up playing a lot of extra offense as a result. We were able to bump a pole up and it worked out well for us today.”
The Red Storm held Providence to below 18 clears and scored a season-high six goals in the first quarter.They also held a 14-8 advantage in faceoffs, due to the play of rookie Jordan Rothman.
On the defensive end, rookie goalkeeper Jeff Lowman got the start over senior
Gavin Buckley. Lowman made seven saves on the game and anchored a defense
which only allowed 21 game shots.
With only a few games left, some players have been starting to look at the postseason picture, but Holenstien sees the importance of every game.
“It was huge to get our first home conference win. We have been working on our transitions and clears and improved that in practice,” said Holenstien. “I’ve been working on my stick skills and dodging as well. We are definitely getting there offensively.”
The Red Storm travels to Philadelphia Saturday for a road matchup with Villanova.