The St. John’s Lacrosse team made use of a strong second half Saturday afternoon as it tallied 10 goals in the last two periods to defeat Providence 16-13 in Providence, R.I.
Junior Colin Keegan scored six times for the Red Storm; five of the goals came on Keegan’s first five shots,as he needed only seven total shots in the contest. Keegan’s six goals are the most of the junior’s three yearcareer and tied for the school’s season high.
“I found myself open a lot in the first half,” Keegan said, “Kevin [Cernuto], Kieran [McArdle] and the middies were doing a good job finding me; it was a real team effort. I was just the open guy finishing the shots.”
McArdle had a big day of his own Saturday, tallying seven points on two goals and five assists. Those seven points bring McArdle to 178 points and make him St. John’s second all time leading scorer.
The Friars put 20 shots on net in the first quarter alone and eventually outshot St. John’s 39-32 in the contest. After the defense was able to slow Providence’s pace late, goalie senior Jeff Lowman recorded seven of his 11 saves in the fourth quarter to maintain his teams lead.
“It felt good to make some stops down the stretch,” Lowman said. “In the first half there were a few I thought I should have had, so it was big to come back and make some stops in the fourth quarter.”
Lowman had missed the previous game and a half with a head injury, but was able to return just in time to try
and lead the Johnnies into the playoffs.
Also finding the back of the net for the Red Storm was Junior Connor Mullen, Junior Kevin Cernuto, Junior Keith Switzer and red-shirt freshman James Bonanno, who all scored twice as seven different Johnnies tallied in the offensive outburst.
The Red Storm’s eighth win of the season ties them with last year’s team for most wins in a season in program history and moved them to 4-0 on the road.
St. John’s final game of the season is next Saturday at home against Marquette, who is in the first year of their lacrosse program. St. John’s will need a victory in that game coupled with a Rutgers win over Georgetown to secure the fourth seed in the Big East tournament.
