March 19, 2005

Box Score

Queens, NY - St. John's men's lacrosse coach Rick Sowell, like any coach, likes to win. He doesn't like to accept a moral victory, but when his team plays as hard as it did on Saturday in a 6-3 loss to Loyola (MD) College, it's a bit easier for the first-year head coach to take.

The Greyhounds scored three goals in the first quarter, but needed goals in the second half of the game to hang on for a 6-3 win over a stingy, hard-working St. John's team.

The loss drops St. John's to 2-4 overall and 0-2 in the ECAC, while Loyola improves to 2-3 overall and 1-1 in the league.

"This was a nice performance by the team today," Sowell said after the game. "Our kids worked hard and they did a nice job. (Goalie) Dave Saccente was awesome today. He kept us in the game.

"We hung around and were a couple of plays away from being right int. I'm proud of the team and I think if we can keep playing like that, then we're going to have some chances."

St. John's, which only attempted four shots in the first quarter, drew first blood when freshman Graeme Gillespie (Ithaca, NY) scored an unassisted goal at 12:04. Loyola's Chris Einhorn evened the game with his goal and assist from Cory Coffman at 3:29 of the period. A goal from Patrick Kennedy at 1:58 and a goal from Jordan Rabidou with nine seconds remaining the period gave the Greyhounds a 3-1 lead heading into the second quarter.

St. John's scored the only extra-man goal of the day to cut the deficit to one, with graduate student Mike McGuire (Arlington, VA) scoring on an assist from freshman Jack Rosson (Saverna Park, MD) at 4:25. Three minutes later, however, Greg Leonard fired a shot past Saccente and Loyola led 4-2 at the half.

The Greyhounds added a goal in the third, but Rosson scored with 9:16 left in the quarter - on an assist from Tom Michaelsen - and the lead was down to two goals, 5-3.

Loyola's Andrew Spack tallied a goal at 7:27, giving the Greyhounds a 6-3 lead.

Loyola took 46 shots to St. John's 22 while picking up 34 groundballs to the Red Storm's 22. Loyola was also successful on 16-of-18 clears and started the game with 14 consecutive successful clears.

Saccente, a freshman from Lake Grove, NY, made his first career start and was strong in goal for the Red Storm. He played all 60 minutes and finished with 16 saves.

St. John's plays next on Saturday, April 26, hosting Air Force at DaSilva Memorial Field at 1 p.m. It is the first of three-straight home games for the Red Storm.