St. John’s played through the crazy weather at Vidas Field in Philadelphia in search of its first victory of the season this weekend, but ultimately was denied.
The Red Storm had an early lead in the first period, but that quickly dwindled as it was eventually doubled-up by No. 14 Drexel Dragons, 6-3, on Saturday.
With St. John’s down in the third period, 4-2, Trevor Michaelsen scored a goal to pull the team within one, but it was not enough as Drexel scored two more goals in less than five minutes to put away the game.
Although it lost its fourth consecutive game, St. John’s showed prowess as it played lights-out defense in the third that included two of the 11 saves made by goalkeeper Dan Goldberg, who played his first game of the season. St. John’s won the pair of face-offs in the period.
Even though his team lost, Goldberg said that there is an improvement from last year.
“We progressed in the last season,” he said. “We are making it tough for the other team. We cannot let this loss slow us down and we have an opportunity next week.”
Offensive midfielder Nick Messigner had the
same sentiments.
“We work hard every day,” he said. “We try to get everything out of each other. We are like a family.”
Messigner, who has changed positions from defensive midfielder, scored the first goal of the game and his first of the season. The offense quickly added a second goal. Senior Rob Gannon scored to give the Red Storm a 2-0 lead in the first. Both goals were assisted by Tom Michaelsen.
“I finally got over the hump,” Messigner said. “The first goal is always the hardest to get.”
Prior to this game, the Red Storm had given up an average of 10.33 goals over the first three games. Saturday’s effort was the lowest total given up in the young season.
St John’s has had foul trouble the whole season. It has recorded five or more penalties in its first four contests, but coach Jason Miller believes that it showed the tenacity of the team.
The Red Storm was unable to put the ball in the net despite attempting 31 shots, and its defense was the saving grace in keeping the Johnnies in the game.
“We’re going to have to play aggressive,” he said. “We’ve got to defend the ball aggressively.”
St. John’s will have to shake off the loss as it hosts Loyola this Saturday in its ECAC home opener.
