Red Storm Sports News

With a combined seven points, the Michaelsen twins from Bethpage, N.Y., showed they were a force to be reckoned with as they led the Red Storm to their first win of the season over the Lafayette Leopards, 9-3 Wednesday afternoon at DaSilva Memorial Field.

Junior Tom Michaelsen and junior transfer Trevor Michaelsen teamed up for five goals and two assists in the Red Storm’s second home contest.

With the win, the first in Jason Miller’s career as a head coach; the Red Storm advances to 1-3 on the season and the Leopards of the Patriot League fall to 0-4.

Lafayette got on the board first, taking advantage of freshman Marco Massaro’s pushing penalty, score man-up on the Red Storm. The goal by Leopard freshman Steve Serling was Lafayette’s only lead of the game.

The Red Storm successfully cleared the ball away from the Leopard offense, and sophomore Tom Manes scored unassisted with just over three minutes left in the first period to tie the game up at one.

After an even first period, the Red Storm began to dominate peppering Lafayette goaltender Jeff Canfield with 31 shots in the remaining periods.

Junior Graeme Gillespie picked up a groundball rebound to send the ball past Canfield to give St. John’s the lead with 9:41 on the period clock.

The Michaelsen brothers began their offensive supremacy, scoring the next three goals to take the Red Storm five minutes into the second half uncontested.

Tom Michaelsen scored with just four minutes left in the half unassisted as another St. John’s clear ended with a goal. Brother Trevor capped off the first half with a late score with just over a minute to play. Trevor sent two shots at the net before his third, fed by Manes, hit its mark.  The Red Storm went into the halftime break up 4-1.

Junior Jack Rosson assisted the Red Storm’s offensive superiority in the second period as he controlled four of four face-offs. Rosson was 8-13 on the day, making his season total 24-45, .533 percent.

Trevor Michaelsen scored the first goal of the new half, scoring unassisted with 10:33 on the clock. Lafayette’s Joe Howard quickly responded as Lafayette took advantage of a failed Red Storm clear attempt and Tim LaMare turnover to bring the Leopards within three.

Not to be outdone, St. John’s scored twice more in the third as both Justin O’Donnell and Tom Michaelsen capitalized on Red Storm possessions with one goal each.

The Red Storm led the Leopards, 7-2 going into the final period of play.

Tom Michaelsen and O’Donnell finished up scoring for the Red Storm as Michaelsen scored back-to-back goals, followed by an O’Donnell rocket with just under 6 minutes to go.

Lafayette made a last-ditch effort with a goal by Trevor Ortolano as the clock was counting down the waning seconds of the game, making the final score 9-3.

Sophomore goaltender Dan Goldberg, a rookie transfer from the United States Military Academy Prep School, made his second start of his collegiate career against the Leopards. After having a career-starting performance against the then-No.1 ranked Georgetown Hoyas, Goldberg entertained 24 shots, 13 on goal and only allowed three. Goldberg also picked up a team high of seven ground balls.

For the Red Storm Offense, Tom Michaelsen led the way with three goals and one assist, while his brother Trevor followed with two goals and one assist. O’Donnell had two goals and Manes added a goal and an assist to garner a total of four points combined. Gillespie also added a point with an assist.

Following Goldberg in groundballs was Rosson with six and junior captain Mike Luyster who picked up a third-best team high of five.

For the Leopards, Serling, Ortalano and Howard were the lone point scorers with one each. Howard also picked up a team high of five ground balls.

In the net, Canfield had a total of 10 saves on 34 shots.

Up next for the Red Storm is a road trip to the city of brotherly love as St. John’s takes on the Drexel Dragons at Vidas Field in Philadelphia on March 10. Face-off is scheduled for 1 p.m. The Dragons (3-1) are ranked 20th by the latest USILA poll.

- Red Storm -