Published: April 27, 2007
QUEENS, N.Y.
On the road for one final time, St. John’s lacrosse travels to
Fairfield, Conn., Sunday, for its season closer against the
Fairfield Stags in an ECAC match-up. Face-off is scheduled for 1
p.m.
• St. John’s (5-7, 2-4 ECAC) has played four straight ECAC
opponents since the end of March. Last time out, the Red Storm
defeated the Statesmen of Hobart 13-10, for its second league
victory in a season since 1995. Juniors Tom
Michaelsen and Justin O’Donnell
scored hat tricks in the win.
• Fairfield (5-6, 1-5) will host the Red Storm at home in
its second-straight home contest. Averaging 6.8 goals per game, the
Stags have lost six in a row since March 24, last falling at the
hands of the UMass Minutemen 10-7 on April 24.
• Comparing ECAC victories: Fairfield’s only ECAC victory
was over Rutgers on March 10. The Stags defeated the Scarlet
Knights 14-10. St. John’s also defeated Rutgers at home on March
31, 6-4. The Red Storm one-ups the Stags with a 13-10 victory over
Hobart. The Stags lost at Hobart 11-10 on March 31.
• STJ vs. FU: The series
between the two teams is tied 2-2 with Fairfield winning the last
two contests 7-2 at DaSilva in 2006 and 17-5 at Fairfield in 2005.
The Red Storm victories came in 1981 and 1982, the first two years
of the St. John’s lacrosse program. Under the tutelage of head
coach Bill Miltenberg, the Red Storm won 17-6 at home in ‘81 and
dominated 26-6 in Connecticut. When last the teams met, O’Donnell
and Bobby Fitton registered two goals
each in the 12-7 loss one year ago in Queens, N.Y.
• Today's contest will feature live audio and live stats.
Listen live at http://www.wvof.com/ or follow the
up-to-date statistics through game tracker on http://www.fairfieldstags.com/.
Storm Tracker
A Program On the Rise
• Last Saturday’s defeat of the Hobart Statesmen marked
the Red Storm’s fifth win of the season, giving St. John’s a
program-high winning percentage since its reinstatement in 2005.
Since 2005, the Red Storm has increased its win-total from two, to
four to five, while also increasing its league winning percentage
as well, going from an 0-6 ECAC record in 2005 to 2-4 with one game
left to play. The Red Storm is nationally ranked in all seven
team categories and has had at least six athletes ranked among the
NCAA Top 100. On April 6, InsideLacrosse.com picked the Red
Storm as a probable upset at top 20 candidate UMass. At home, the
Red Storm broke the attendance record twice, hosting over 700 fans
on both occasions. In 2006, the most fans to attend a game at
DaSilva Memorial was 447.
A Look Ahead
• With the season dwindling down, most teams around the ECAC
have one or two league games left to play. However, St. John’s and
Fairfield will be closing their respective seasons this weekend.
Currently sitting one spot above Fairfield in the league with one
additional win, a victory against the Stags would give them a 3-4
final conference record. Above St. John’s are Rutgers and Penn
State, who the Red Storm has split 1-1. Rutgers has two more league
games against Georgetown and UMass, while Penn State will play
their final league match-up on May 5, also against Georgetown. If
Penn State and Rutgers fall in their final games, the Red Storm
could move up to fourth in the conference to tie with Penn
State.
Home Field Advantage
• On DaSilva Memorial Field, the Red Storm closed out its
season boasting a 4-1 home record. After losing the home-opener to
the then-No. 1 ranked Georgetown Hoyas, the Red Storm has defeated
four consecutive opponents in front of its hometown crowd: 9-3 over
Lafayette (March 6), 9-8 over Quinnipiac (March 13), and both its
ECAC victories against Rutgers, 6-4 (March 31) and Hobart, 13-10
(April 21). The Red Storm completely turned around last season’s
1-5 record at DaSilva. In 2006, the attendance average at a Red
Storm home game was 305 over six games. This season, St. John’s
pulled a total of 2,522 fans, averaging 504 supporters in just five
home contests.
Battle At The X
• Junior Jack Rosson leads the
Red Storm at the X this season with 90 wins and a .497 win
percentage. Rosson is currently ranked 35th in the NCAA in
face-offs while Fairfield’s Sean Fay is ranked 52nd with a .411 win
percentage.
Manes Storming Through A Late Season
Scoring Roll
• In the last four Red Storm contests, midfielder Tom Manes has led the Red Storm scoring
efforts with an average of three points per game. In last weekend’s
Hobart victory (April 21), Manes tied for second in scoring with
two goals and two assists. In the Red Storm’s 11-7 loss to UMass,
Manes fed three helpers, a season high in assists for the
Philadelphia native. In the last five games, Manes has totaled 14
of his 22 points. In 2006, Manes scored 13 points for the season.
The sophomore is currently ranked third in scoring with 14 assists
and eight goals.
LaMare, Michaelsen Tabbed With ECAC
Honors
• Juniors Tim LaMare and Tom Michaelsen earned spots on this week's
ECAC Honor Roll (April 23) for their roll in helping the Red Storm
to its second league victory, 13-10 over Hobart (April 21).
• LaMare, a junior defender from Philadelphia, Pa.
(Lawrence Academy), led the Red Storm defense, holding Hobart's
leading scorer, Jamie Kirk, to just one goal scored on a man-up
advantage for the Statesmen. LaMare's strength in the back field
also held Kirk, who led the NCAA last week in assists per game
(3.1), to just one helper on 10 Statesmen goals.
• A junior attackman from Bethpage, N.Y. (Bethpage),
Michaelsen led the Red Storm on offense with five points in the
13-10 victory. Scoring his fourth hat trick of the season, with the
addition of two helpers, Michaelsen advanced his season point total
to 34. Michaelsen's goals against Hobart came at key times, tying
the game at 3-3 at the end of the first period, and giving the Red
Storm a one-goal lead twice in the second quarter, 6-5 and 8-7.
O’Donnell And Michaelsen Move Up In Red
Storm’s All-Time Scoring List
• Midfielder Justin O’Donnell and attackman Tom
Michaelsen started the season with 47 and 56 career points,
respectively. In 12 games thus far this season, O’Donnell has
advanced his career point total to 68, moving up one spot to No.
16, while Michaelsen’s team-high 34 points this season advances him
to No. 9, three points away from Matt Grandinetti who scored 94
points from 1987-90.
Red Storm In The National Top
10
• According to the most recent statistics released by the
NCAA, the Red Storm is ranked No. 8 in man-down defense with a .800
kill percentage with just 13 goals allowed on 67 man-down
situations. Dartmouth leads the NCAA with a .897 percent penalty
killing percentage.
• The Red Storm is ranked in six additional categories and has
five athletes in the NCAA Top 100 in their respective specialties.
Please click here for
chart.
The Brothers from Bethpage - Leading the
Offense
• So far this season, the Michaelsen twins lead the Red Storm
offense with a combined 57 points (39G, 18A). The twins had
matching hat tricks in the Red Storm’s 9-8 victory at home against
the Bobcats of Quinnipiac and have scored a point in each of the
past 11 contests, putting them on par to eventually crack the NCAA
Division I leader board of consecutive games with a goal or assist.
Neither twin scored a point in the season opener against
Bucknell.
• Trevor Michaelsen has a team
high of 20 goals, scoring a career best four against Bellarmine
(Feb. 24) adding three assists for his season best of seven points.
Trevor, who has made an immediate impact playing his first year for
St. John’s after transferring from Rutgers in 2005, averages almost
two goals a game in nine games played thus far. He has had hat
tricks against Bellarmine (Feb. 24) and Quinnipiac (March 13).
• Tom Michaelsen is close behind in goals (19) and leads
the team in both points and assists with 34 and 15 respectively.
Tom has scored hat tricks in each of the Red Storm’s victories:
Lafayette (March 6), Quinnipiac (March 13), Siena (March 21) and
Hobart (April 21). Michaelsen currently ranks seventh in the league
in assists per game (1.25) and eighth in points per game
(2.83).
St. John’s Scores First ECAC Win Since
2005
• On March 31, four minutes into the fourth period,
junior midfielder Justin O'Donnell helped make Red Storm lacrosse
history as he sent the game-winning goal past Rutgers goaltender
Bill Olin to give St. John's its first win over a conference
opponent since the program's reinstatement in 2005. Two minutes
later, junior Tom Michaelsen sealed the deal for the Red Storm as
the team celebrated its 6-4 win over the Scarlet Knights on DaSilva
Memorial. The win gave the Red Storm a two-game win streak, and
came during a week where the Scarlet Knights received national
votes.
O’Donnell, Michaelsen Score Career-Best
Efforts Against Siena
• Justin O’Donnell and Tom Michaelsen earned March 26th
ECAC Honor Roll selection for their combined 10 point performance
against Siena (March 21). O’Donnell, an Island Trees High School
alum, scored a career-high of five goals with his first hat trick
of the season and the sixth of his career. Michaelsen netted four
goals and an assist of his own, his third three-goal effort this
season and also the sixth hat trick of his career.
Against Ranked Opponents
• So far this season, St. John’s has competed against four
USILA Top 20 opponents, No. 16 Bucknell (Feb. 17), No. 6 Georgetown
(March 3), No. 13 Loyola (March 17) and No. 17 Drexel (March
10).
• Down 4-2 against then-No. 15 Loyola going into the third
period, the Red Storm held the ranked team to just a two goal lead
going into the second half for the third time all season (4-2, vs,
Georgetown on March 3 and 3-2 vs. Bucknell on Feb. 18).
• The Red Storm held the then-No. 1 ranked Georgetown Hoyas
(March 3) to just four goals going into the third period. The
defense stayed strong throughout the contest, holding the Hoyas to
just 12 goals in 58 shots.
Two for the Books
• Last weekend against Hobart, the Red Storm marked its
second home attendance record of the year. The Red Storm defeated
the Statesmen, 13-10, in front of a season-best crowd of 719 on
senior day at DaSilva Memorial.
• Against the then-No. 1 ranked Georgetown Hoyas, St.
John's set a previous attendance record of 708 fans. The crowd was
the greatest at any home game since the return of the lacrosse
program. The last highest attendance record was set at 608 also
against Georgetown in 2005.
Offensive Highs
• Against Bellarmine (Feb. 24) Bobby Fitton and junior
transfer Trevor Michaelsen each scored a career high four goals.
Fitton saw time in 12 games, starting seven last season. He marked
10 points for the year with six goals and four assists. His four
goals against Bellarmine puts him on course to triple his 2006
season total.
Coaching Changes For The Red Storm
• Fall 2006 saw significant changes to the Red Storm
sidelines as former head coach Rick Sowell traveled down the Long
Island Expressway to head up the Stony Brook Seawolves. St. John's
brought in the expertise of head coach Jason
Miller, a former three-year first assistant at the
University of Massachusetts.
• Miller named Dan Paccione
and former Red Storm captain John
Kutner as his assistants. Paccione, who will head up the
2007 Red Storm offense, currently plays midfield for Major League
Lacrosse's Chicago Machine, while Kutner, a St. John’s alum, and a
junior college All-American, will direct the defense.
Scouting the Fairfield Stags
• Fairfield (5-6, 1-5) will be playing its second game this
week after a 12-7 loss at home Tuesday afternoon. Scoring first but
never leading after that, the Stags tied the game two times in the
first half before UMass pulled away with a two-goal lead halfway
through the second period. Down 8-6 at the beginning of the fourth
quarter, a goal by Mike Bocklet put the Stags within one with 12:45
left to play. UMass pulled off two more goals for the ECAC win.
• The Stags have lost their last six games, with an almost
upset at Georgetown on April 7, losing 8-7 after tying the game
with back-to-back fourth quarter goals. Fairfield scored five goals
in the second half for the almost come-back win.
• Fairfield has been in and out of the USILA Lacrosse and
Nike/Inside Lacrosse Top 20 polls with its highest ranking on March
19th at No. 12 (USILA) after winning its first four games,
including a 14-10 league win over Rutgers on March 10. Fairfield
began its current losing streak with a 10-7 decision at Penn State
and ended with the 12-7 loss to UMass, causing the Stags to drop
down and out of the Top 20. This week is the first week the Stags
have not been ranked.
• In national rankings, Fairfield’s leading scorer Mike
Bocklet (36 pts., 24G, 12A), is ranked 19th and 20th in goals per
game (2.2) and points per game (3.4), respectively.
• Junior Travis Nelson is the Stags’ second leading scorer
with 17 goals, 14 assists.
• Senior Mike Kruger will most likely start in goal for the
Stags as he has started all 11 Fairfield contests. Kruger has
allowed 99 goals in 352 shots faced for a 9.64 goals against
average. In 11 games, Kruger has blanked 108 shots for a .522 save
percentage. As of April 23, he was ranked nationally in both save
percentage (No. 38) and Goals-Against Average (No. 34). In ECAC
games only, he is ranked eighth in the league with a 10.73 goals
against average.
For the most up-to-date information and statistics on St. John’s
athletics please visit www.RedStormSports.com or
call our hotline at 1-888-GO-STORM.
-- Red Storm --