The St. John’s Lacrosse team faced Providence College on Sunday, Feb. 21 — the season’s home and Big East opener. The game was originally scheduled for Saturday but officials shifted the opener to the next day due to inclement weather.
The Friars have posed a challenge over the past few years for the Red Storm. St. John’s has not secured a win against this Big East opponent since their 2014-15 season. The team’s matchup on Sunday was also the first time the Lacrosse team played a conference team in nearly two years.
Graduate midfielder Ryan Schaeffer has been with the Red Storm since his college debut back in 2017 and has faced Providence three times during his time at St. John’s; in his last matchup against the team in 2019, St. John’s lost by just one point.With this experience, Schaeffer told the Torch that he and his teammates felt confident in their game plan ahead of the matchup.
Schaeffer said he looks back to the team’s 2021 season opener against Hofstra University on Feb.13 with pride.
“We want to carry over the energy [into Sunday’s game],” he told the Torch in a phone interview. “As a team we rode the game out well, we didn’t get too high when we were winning or too low when we were down, I think that’s important.”
After their win against Hofstra, the Red Storm was excited to achieve another. Schaeffer described how much a win against Providence would mean to him and his team.
“We haven’t gotten a Big East win,” he said, “and it would mean a lot, especially to us seniors, that we get the opportunity to try and go out there and get that.”
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Unfortunately, the energy that St. John’s brought was not enough to defeat Providence. The Friars, with their 59 attempts, outshot the Johnnies, who only mustered 26 attempted shots on goal.
Despite their 16-8 loss, some key players shone during the matchup.
Schaeffer scored a hat trick in Sunday’s game, as well as his teammate Mike Madsen. Dylan Willis and Thomas Martello also added one goal apiece to the Red Storm’s total.
The team will travel to the nation’s capital on Feb. 27 to face off against another Big East opponent, Georgetown University.
