May 4, 2008
DURHAM, N.C. - After a tremendous first half, St. John's was unable to pull off the upset of top-ranked Duke as the Blue Devils defeated the Red Storm, 16-9, on Koskinen Stadium. Senior Tom Michaelsen led St. John's in scoring, tying his career-record with six points (three goals, three assists.) The hat trick was the 11th of his four-year career. With the loss, St. John's ends the season with a 2-11 record, while the Duke advances to 16-1 on the season. The Red Storm took an early lead, sinking two goals in the first two minutes of play. Junior Malcolm Miles got the Red Storm on the board early with a quick goal fed by Michaelsen. Michaelsen took advantage of the next possession and scored unassisted 30 seconds later to take the 2-0 lead on the top-ranked team. However, Duke scored two goals in the next five minutes to tie it up at two. Answering right back, senior Jack Rosson, winning his fifth straight draw, stuffed the ball past Blue Devil goaltender Dan Loftus to break the short-lived tie. Blue Devils senior Zach Greer came up with a goal at 6:42 to tie the game at three. With Red Storm senior defenders Tim LaMare, Mike Luyster and Ryan Parker working on the Blue Devils attackmen, the score stayed at the three goal stalemate into the second period. In the second stanza, Greer scored two of three Duke goals, giving the Blue Devils a three-goal lead. Netting his first off a low side shot from the right corner of the box then again unassisted at 7:42. Junior Max Quinzani scored the last of thee short rally at 4:15.
With less than a minute left in the half, Loftus couldn't clear the ball out of the zone as Michaelsen rode him into a turnover. After a brief scramble, senior Justin O'Donnell picked up the groundball as the Duke defenders rushed to get into position. O'Donnell took advantage of the confusion and passed the ball back to Michaelsen who one-timed it into the net to stop the Blue Devil scoring streak and cut Duke's lead to two, 6-4, going into the halftime break. Quinzani scored in the opening three minutes of the second half to put Duke up 7-4. But sophomore Nick Messinger came right back with his second goal of the season to cut the lead back to two, 7-5 at 10:33. Michaelsen assisted Messinger's goal. Two minutes later, Greer netted his fourth goal of the day, to put the Blue Devils up 8-5, and making the senior the NCAA's all-time career goal scorer with 194 goals. Duke sent in three more in the third to increase the lead to 11-5 going into the final stanza. Greer finished with seven goals for the day. In the fourth, Duke netted another three before Michaelsen netted his third of the game right in front of the net with 11 minutes remaining. Duke finished off with two more goals in the fourth to finish at 16 with just over five minutes remaining. With three minutes to go in the game, O'Donnell sent in his first of the day, stopping another Duke run. Senior Graeme Gillespie scored off an assist from Michaelsen for his sixth goal of the season with 1:51 left. O'Donnell scored his second of the contest with 21 seconds remaining to end the game at 16-9, Duke. Sophomore goaltender Gavin Buckley was huge in the net for St. John's, tallying a career-high 18 saves, 10 in the first half on 29 Blue Devil shots. Michaelsen's six points was also a season-best scoring effort. The senior finished his career with 117 points (71 goals, 46 assists), moving him up to No. 5 on the St. John's all-time leader board. His 46 assists are also a fourth-best all-time record for the Red Storm. O'Donnell's two goals made him the fourth best goal scorer in St. John's history with 74 career goals. Rosson also marked a career-best performance at the face-off X with 17 wins. His previous record was 14, set against Hobart last season. |
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