April 5, 2008

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QUEENS, N.Y. - The St. John's lacrosse team was unable to overcome the Massachusetts Minutemen's seven goal lead as the Red Storm suffered its fourth conference loss, 13-8, at DaSilva Memorial Field on Saturday.

With the loss the Red Storm falls to 0-9 on the season and 0-4 in ECAC play. The Minutemen earn their second league win of the season, advancing to 4-5, 2-1 ECAC. Massachusetts' leading scorer Tim Balise tallied seven points in the contest (6 goals, 1 assist).

UMass took a significant seven goal lead that stretched four minutes into the second period. Balise and Zach Rodgers netted two in the seven-goal run.

Red Storm senior Jack Rosson got the Red Storm on the board, and ending the UMass run, with 11:34 left in the second, capitalizing on a Minutemen tripping penalty. Senior Graeme Gillespie assisted Rosson's goal.

Balise answered back for the Minutemen, extending their lead to seven again.

St. John's traded goals with UMass to end the half trailing, 10-3. Senior Rob Gannon and Justin O'Donnell picked up a goal each, while senior Tom Michaelsen tallied an assist. Gannon's goal came off a groundball rebound in a scramble in front of the UMass goal as he shot it past Minutemen goaltender Doc Schneider with UMass defenders crashing over his head.

Michaelsen and his twin brother Trevor Michaelsen opened the third period with back-to-back goals to bring the score within five, 10-5 with 6:09 left in the quarter.

UMass's Fred Federico came right back at 4:49 with a power play goal to increase the UMass lead back to six.

Freshman Joe Bagnasco cut the UMass lead to five once more as he got past his older brother Ryan Bagnasco, a Massachusetts' midfielder, to score his career first goal, fed by Red Storm junior-transfer Malcolm Miles.

Balise scored his fifth of the game with just under a minute left in the third, making the score 12-6 in UMass' favor.

Tom Michaelsen and O'Donnell each scored their second goals of the game in the fourth period, but the Red Storm's efforts could not overcome the gap UMass created in the first quarter of play.

Schneider (4-5/2-1 ECAC) had 15 saves in the net for UMass; while sophomores Dan Goldberg (0-6/0-4 ECAC) and Gavin Buckley had four each. Buckley came into the game at the end of the second period and made key saves for the Red Storm.

St. John's and UMass tied at 34 in shots each, while the Red Storm won the groundball battle 27 to 22.

The St. John's defense, ranked fifth in penalty-kill percentage, held the Minutemen to 2-for-8 power play goal opportunities.

Up next, the Red Storm will host the Penn State Nittany Lions on Saturday, April 12. The game will be televised live on CN8 (Comcast). Face-off is scheduled for 1 p.m.