St. John’s played tough, but not tough enough to defeat one of the best teams in the country.
Red Storm freshman Kevin Cernuto added two late goals, his 10th and 11th of the season, in a losing effort to No. 5/5 Stony Brook 9-4 on March 15 at DaSilva Memorial Field. Stony Brook was lead by Russ Bonanno and Jordan McBride, who had two goals apiece for the Seawolves.
St. John’s came into the game with a scoreless streak stemming from their 10-4 loss at Siena on March 10. After going up 4-2, St. John’s failed to score in the second half of the game and let Siena finish the game on an 8-0 run.
St. John’s extended that streak against Stony Brook, allowing three goals to McBride, Bonanno and Kyle Belton in the first. The Red Storm kept the score at 3-0 through the first eight minutes when Stony Brook went off on another 3-0 run in a matter of two minutes to go up 6-0.
The Johnnies finally ended their scoreless streak, one that had extended for 80-plus minutes, in the fourth quarter, with a Brandon Ayers goal.Their late 4-0 run came quickly and helped get them back into striking distance but they weren’t able to do much else.
After the game Coach Jason Miller was impressed with the effort the team gave coming off of a couple of losses.
“If we get this kind of effort every week, we’re a good lacrosse team,” said Miller. “I like the fact that we fight.”
Goalie Jeff Lowman was solid again making 14 saves but was outdueled by Rob Camposa, who had 14 saves on 15 shots.
St. John’s played the same Stony Brook team last season and was beaten 21-6, Miller is happy with the progress his team has been making, even in losses.
“We had signs of life, that’s the most encouraging thing to me. There are no moral victories here, we wanted to win today. We don’t play these guys to stay close, we play to win.”
The Seawolves had goals from Kevin Crowley, Robbie Campbell, Tom Compitello and Graham Adams. St. John’s Junior Charlie Holenstein added a goal for the Red Storm.
St. John’s was one for seven on man up opportunities and missed a couple of chances to score early in the game due to some great saves by Camposa. St. John’s committed 21 turnovers to Stony Brook’s 17, while Adam Rand helped Stony Brook win 12 of 17 face-offs going 7-8 early on.
The road doesn’t get any easier for the 1-4 Red Storm as they head out on a two game road trip. They head to Vermont on March 19 before they play at No. 4/4 Hofstra on March 22.
