The St. John’s lacrosse team continued their struggles over the weekend, as they fell 13-11 in a close game against the Holy Cross Crusaders Saturday in Worchester, Mass.
The loss now has the Red Storm at 2-7 overall on the season and 0-4 on the road. It’s beginning to look like a lost season for the program.
“This was a very tough loss for us today,” head coach Jason Miller told RedStormSports.com. “Our players continue to battle. They continue to give a tremendous effort.”
However, that tremendous effort would not be enough for the Red Storm on Saturday. Although St. John’s started out fast once again, taking a 5-2 lead after one quarter of play behind a pair of goals from Eric DeJohn, the Crusaders would rally back for three straight goals in the second quarter to tie the game at five at the half.
As the game went into the fourth quarter tied at eight, the Red Storm once again struggled to close things out. Holy Cross would score the first three goals of the final period to take an 11-8 lead, forcing the Johnnies to play from behind for the remainder of the game.
Down 12-10 with 1:39 remaining in the game, St. John’s would pull themselves within a goal after Jackson O’Leary found the back of the net, but they wouldn’t be able to find the equalizer in the game’s final moments.
Holy Cross would add one more goal in the closing seconds to make the score 13-11, securing the program’s first-ever victory over St. John’s.
DeJohn led the way for the Red Storm with four goals on the day, while Stefan Diachenko and James Bonanno added a pair of goals each themselves.
Junior goalkeeper Harry Burke would take the loss for the Red Storm, who was outshot 41-38 on the day. Burke was able to tally 12 saves overall, but he struggled to stop the Crusaders’ fourth quarter attack.
With a 2-7 overall record, the Red Storm is currently in last place in the Big East with conference play kicking off later this week. Senior co-captain Mark DiFrangia spoke out after the loss about what his team needs to do in order to change things going forward.
“Actions speak louder than words,” DiFrangia said. “We’re going to take each game one at a time, and try our best to seize the opportunities in front of us every time out.”
DiFrangia would continue, “if anything, the non-conference games have taught us that we need to play a full 60 minutes every time out, especially on the road.”
St. John’s has now been outscored in the fourth quarter in four of their last five games, and they have lost six of their last seven as well.
They’ll look to turn their season around as conference play begins this Saturday, with a matchup against Providence at home.
