After a hard-fought 13-10 to the No. 13 Georgetown Hoyas, the St. John’s men’s lacrosse team will not earn a spot in the Big East Championship. The Red Storm (3-11 overall, 1-4 Big-East) finished with Villanova and Providence for fourth place in the conference. The Wildcats, however, earned the No. 4 seed because of their superior in-conference goal differential.
“I thought our guys really battled today,” St. John’s head coach Jason Miller said. “I’m impressed with Georgetown’s size and athleticism, but we really hung in. We didn’t shoot well in the second quarter, and they made a little run, which put in a hole at the half. We got it to one late and went for broke, calling timeout on the end line and double teaming off the restart. I thought if we could turn it over there, we had a chance. You’ve got to give them credit for executing well in that situation.”
Senior co-captains Stefan Diachenko and Mark DiFrangia capped off validating performances with many aggressive plays and scoring highlights throughout the season.
Diachenko finished his final game for the Red Storm by scoring five goals. His 40 total goals on the season tied former teammate and three-time All-American Kieran McArdle for the all-time mark in program history, which McArdle set last season.
“Playing for coach Miller and coach Paccione over the past four years has been the best experience of my life,” Diachenko said. “I have always wanted to play lacrosse at the Division I level and play the best teams, and coming to St. John’s allowed me to do this. Playing for St. John’s allowed me to really have the best athletic and academic experience, along with the opportunity to mature as a student-athlete.”
DiFrangia, meanwhile, finished off his last St. John’s game causing a career-high five turnovers and picked up six groundballs to help his team stage a second-half comeback.
“I felt like we played hard against Georgetown, like we always do, but unfortunately, we came up short,” DiFrangia said after the loss.
St. John’s led 3-1 in the opening 6:52 with a pair of goals scored by Stefan Diachenko and one from sophomore Jackson O’Leary. After the first period, the Hoyas went on to score four unanswered in the second to make it a 7-3 Red Storm deficit.
St. John’s would continue to fight back after a goal by junior Eric DeJohn made it a 9-8 game, before Georgetown pulled away with a 13-10 win.
Following the loss, Mark DiFrangia spoke about their careers and what they will remember most about the team.
“The best quality about this team has been the amount of fight we have exerted each and every game,” DiFrangia said. “The thing I’ll remember most is all of the fun times and camaraderie with my teammates. No matter the outcome, we stick together as a family and that type of loyalty is a very special quality.”
