YORKTOWN defeats CHAMINADE 9-8 in OT

Kevin Interlicchio - Yorktown

Game Photos

Post game comments by Kevin Interlicchio

(Yorktown, NY 5/9/09) - Kevin Interlicchio's intentions were fairly obvious even before he began rolling left in search of an opening.

There was urgency in every stride.

Interlicchio waited patiently for the perfect angle to open up, and then whistled a shot into the back of the net, giving Yorktown a 9-8 overtime victory against Chaminade yesterday afternoon in a battle of nationally ranked boys lacrosse powers. The arms went up in celebration immediately, prompting an emotional green-and-white mob scene in front of the goal.

"From the look in his eyes, I knew Kevin was going for the cage," said 'Huskers midfielder John Ranagan, who moved the ball in behind the crease and hit Interlicchio in stride.

Interlicchio finished with four very important goals.

"Once the ball came to me, I knew I was going to shoot," Yorktown's leading scorer said. "I just kept running until it seemed like almost half the goal was open, and I was able to sneak it past the keeper."

It wasn't a perfect game, but there was no shortage of drama.

Yorktown again was a little timid early and was down 3-2 at halftime. It would've been worse if not for the hustle of Ethan Fox on defense and the play of Michael Bonitatibus in goal.

"We told everyone to take a deep breath," 'Huskers coach Dave Marr said. "It was kind of the same situation we faced against Ward Melville, so the kids had their heads down. We were only down a goal, so it wasn't that bad, and they responded in the second half."

The spark came from Joey Porcelli.

"Joey is one of the smallest guys on the field, but pound-for-pound one of the toughest," Ranagan said. "When the littlest guy is playing that hard, we know we have to step it up."

Yorktown (11-1) came in ranked ninth in the Under Armour/Inside Lacrosse poll, but was getting outhustled and outmuscled until Porcelli stuck his nose into the middle of a loose-ball scramble and got planted.

"I guess it got people going," he said. "Everybody got more intense."

Remy Lieberman scored a man-up goal to knot the score, but the Flyers answered with two goals before the 'Huskers really got revved up. Ranagan won a faceoff and came steaming in for a goal that made it 5-4, and then Interlicchio got a step on the defense and flipped in a backhanded goal to even the score again.

He added one more with 58 seconds to go in the quarter, making it 6-5.

"Our defense was playing very aggressively," Chaminade attackman Will Himler said. "We found a way to hang with them, and then I don't know what happened. Their big players started making plays."

After the Flyers surged ahead 7-6, Interlicchio drew out the goalie with a shot fake and scored with 2:03 remaining, forcing another tie. Ranagan won the faceoff and stormed in for another goal six seconds later, giving Yorktown an 8-7 lead.

No. 13 Chaminade (11-3) took advantage of a 'Huskers turnover in the final minute and began to zero in on Bonitatibus.

Steve Chmil was high with eight seconds to go. Matt Gillan was dead-on with three seconds to go, immediately silencing the crowd.

After winning the faceoff to start overtime, Ranagan came straight in for another blast, and just missed, high and wide. The 'Huskers eventually lost the ball over the end line, but got another chance when a long outlet by Flyers goalie John Connors sailed out of bounds.

"We definitely did not come out the way we should have against one of the best teams in the country," Ranagan said. "It was like the Ward Melville loss. At halftime, we just decided it can't happen again. The seniors, it was our last regular-season game here, so we had to win."

---

---

ST. JOHN'S defeats GEORGETOWN 10-9

Game Photos

Gavin Buckley

YouTube: Interview with Gavin Buckley
YouTube: Coach Miller explains injury he received

QUEENS, N.Y. - The Red Storm men's lacrosse team recorded one of its biggest wins in history with a 10-9 upset of the No. 5 Georgetown Hoyas, on Saturday afternoon at DaSilva Memorial Field. The conference win is the third-straight victory for St. John's this season, and marks the first time the Red Storm has defeated the Hoyas in its nine-game series history. It is also the first win over a top-20 opponent since the program's reinstatement in 2005, and the first under third-year head coach Jason Miller.

With the win, St. John's advances to a 3-0 overall record and a 1-0 ECAC slate. Georgetown's loss gives the Hoyas a 1-1 overall record and 0-1 slate in conference action. The last time the Red Storm was off to a 3-0 start was in 1983, the third year of the program. In 1983, St. John's got off to a 5-0 start.

Once again, eight players tallied a point in the contest with senior Drew Schanen leading the way with his second-straight hat trick. Senior Trevor Michaelsen was second in scoring with two goals and one assist. Senior Malcolm Miles had a team and career-high four assists.

Junior Gavin Buckley had an strong outing between the pipes for St. John's with 15 saves, including stopping seven shots in the second period. Buckley's saves and the defensive middies work In clearing the ball helped St. John's maintain control of the game.

Senior Dom DeNapoli went 11-for-21 at the face-off X and picked up a team-high 10 ground balls.

Georgetown took control of the game early on with a key possession off the first face-off. The Red Storm was able to hold off the Hoyas and capitalize on a turnover caused by DeNapoli to change possession and clear the ball out of the defensive zone.

St. John's then went on a four-goal run to shut out Georgetown in the first period. Freshman Carl Iacona got the Red Storm on the board first after he scored on a ground ball pick up deflected off Hoya goaltender Jack Davis' stick save on freshman Harry Kutner's shot at 11:22. The Red Storm scored on two-consecutive man-up opportunities led off by Schanen, who's hard shot at the doorstep found the back of the net after he received a pass from Michaelsen in front of the goal. Michaelsen tallied another man-up point with a goal set up by senior Tom Manes at 2:41. Schanen netted his seventh goal of the season and second of the game dished out by Miles with 26 seconds waning in the opening period. After losing the first face-off, DeNapoli came back strong winning the next four.

In the second stanza, Georgetown rallied back with three-straight goals led by junior Ricky Mirabito, who was the Hoyas point-leader with five goals. A stick penalty on DeNapoli left St. John's a man-down for three minutes, but Mirabito's goal at 13:42 cleaned the slate. In DeNapoli's absence, sophomore Eric Schmit took the draw off the goal and won the face-off resulting in a key possession for St. John's. Red Storm sophomore Terence Leach scored to stop the Georgetown momentum at 7:09. Leach's goal was assisted by Miles, his second of the game.

Four minutes later, Miles, scrambling in front of the Hoya goal, found Michaelsen on the outside who netted his second goal of the game and third of the season with 3:04 left in the half, giving St. John's a 6-3 advantage. Leach scored once again, over ECAC Defensive Player of the Week, Barney Ehrmann, at 1:38 to give the Red Storm a four-goal lead going into the halftime break.

The third period was quiet, as Georgetown and St. John's traded unassisted goals by Mirabito, at 12:08, and Schanen, at 7:49. Buckley's stick-save at 11:15 kept the Hoya's from gaining momentum as he stopped a shot by Georgetown's Ryan Shuler. After a shuffle resulting in turnovers from both sides, Buckley was once again huge between the pipes as he blanked Craig Dowd's attempt at 10:06. Schanen's hat-trick goal was a hard overhand shot over the Hoya defense, who were featured as Inside Lacrosse's Defense of the Week.

The Hoyas started the final period with goals from Andrew Brancaccio and Mirabito. Kutner broke the rally as he netted his third goal of the game to give St. John's the 9-6 lead.

Mirabito scored his fourth goal of the game at 3:38 to tighten the score to 9-7. The Red Storm lost the subsequent face-off to give Georgetown possession of the ball. But a huge turnover caused by DeNapoli and a ground ball pick up by sophomore long pole Mike Sherry gave St. John's the momentum it needed to score at least one more goal. Sherry passed off to junior Nick Messinger who muscled the ball past the midfield line and handed it off to DeNapoli. DeNapoli shot the ball as it went wide behind the Hoya net. Gaining possession behind the goal, junior Garrett Mitchell came around the net and surprised Davis with his well-time shot. Mitchell's goal gave St. John's the three-goal cushion it needed with just over two minutes remaining.

Georgetown netted two more in the final two minutes but the Red Storm defense and midfield fought hard to earn their first conference win of the season. DeNapoli lost the face-off with 1:45 left to play and after a short scramble, Sherry once again came through in the clutch to pick up the ground ball and clear it as St. John's called time out with 1:03 remaining. After Georgetown's ninth and final goal with 31 seconds left, DeNapoli won the face-off with a key ground ball pick up by Messinger to keep the ball with St. John's as the final seconds clicked off the game clock.

St. John's went 2-for-7 on man-up opportunities, while Georgetown went 2-for-4. The Red Storm led the Hoyas in ground balls 32-27, shots 42-39, and clears.

St. John's completes its three-game homestand in a non-conference matchup against the Drexel Dragons on Saturday, March 7. The Dragons have a 4-0 advantage in the all-time series, with three of the four games on their home turf. Face-off is slated for 1 p.m., live stats and video will be available on www.RedStormSports.com.

Men's Lacrosse: St. John's Upsets Georgetown

February 28, 2009

Fifth-ranked Georgetown raced back from a four-goal halftime deficit and pulled to within two goals late in the fourth quarter, but St. John's Garrett Mitchell scored with 2:16 left in the game, giving the Red Storm an upset 10-9 win over the Hoyas at DaSilva Memorial Field Saturday afternoon. The loss drops Georgetown's record to 1-1 overall and 0-1 in the ECAC, while St. John's improves to 3-0 overall and 1-0 in the ECAC.

The Red Storm had taken a 7-3 lead at halftime and trailed 8-4 after three quarters, but narrowed the gap after scoring two times in the first five minutes of the final frame. Junior Andrew Brancaccio (Bethesda, Md./Georgetown Prep) started things, with an assist from junior Craig Dowd (East Northport, N.Y./Northport), at 13:08, making it 8-5. Junior Rickey Mirabito (Binghamton, N.Y./Chenango Forks) scored an unassisted goal at 10:17, narrowing the gap to 8-6.

A goal from SJU's Harry Kutner made it 9-6 with 8:36 to play, and the Red Storm won the ensuing face-off and was able to keep the Hoyas in check over the next five minutes.

Georgetown scored an extra-man goal with 3:38 to play when Mirabito tallied an unassisted marker, his second of the game, to make it 9-7. The Hoyas won the next face-off, but a turnover gave the ball back to St. John's. After a shot went wide with 2:44 to play, Mitchell scored with 2:16 left to give the Red Storm a 10-7 lead.

The Hoyas raced back, scoring twice in the final minute to pull within one goal, 10-9. The first goal came from Mirabito on an assist from junior Scott Kocis (Huntington, N.Y./Huntington) with 1:49 to play, making it 10-8. Senior defender Stevie Bauer (Red Bank, N.J./Peddie School) forced a turnover with a minute to play and Kocis scored with 31 seconds to play to pull Georgetown within one goal, 10-9. St. John's face-off specialist Dom DeNapoli won the next face-off and St. John's held on for the win.

St. John's jumped on top early in the game, taking a 4-0 lead with Drew Schanen scoring two goals and the Red Storm picking up two man-up goals. The Hoyas, however, scored three-straight goals in the second quarter and pulled to within 4-3 when Dowd scored off an assist from senior co-captain Jake Samperton (Bethesda, Md./Landon). The Red Storm, however, responded with three-straight goals as Malcolm Miles recorded on assists to two from Terrence Leach and one from Tom Michaelsen.

Mirabito scored a career-high five goals to lead Georgetown, while Kocis added two goals and an assist and Dowd finished with one goal and two assists. Georgetown took 32 shots, picked up 27 ground balls and won 10-of-22 face-off attempts. The Red Storm took 42 shots and had 32 ground balls.

Georgetown plays its first home game of the season next Saturday, March 7, hosting defending national champion Syracuse. Face-off at the Multi-Sport Field is slated for noon.

	1	2	3	4	F
Georgetown - Hoyas [M]	0	3	1	5	9
St. John's - Red Storm [M]	4	3	1	2	10
GU (1-1 (0-1 ECAC)) vs. St. John's (3-0 (1-0 ECAC)) Date: Feb 28, 2009 Attendance: 754 Weather: windy GU SCORING: GOALS: Ricky Mirabito 5; Scott Kocis 2; Craig Dowd 1; Andrew Brancaccio 1. ASSISTS: Craig Dowd 2; Scott Kocis 1; Jake Samperton 1. St. John's SCORING: GOALS: Drew Schanen 3; Trevor Michaelsen 2; Terence Leach 2; Carl Iacona 1; Harry Kutner 1; Garrett Mitchell 1. ASSISTS: Malcolm Miles 4; Tom Manes 1; Trevor Michaelsen 1. SHOTS BY PERIOD 1 2 3 4 Tot ------------------------------------- GU.................. 4 16 11 8 - 39 St. John's.......... 16 8 9 9 - 42 GROUND BALLS BY PRD 1 2 3 4 Tot ------------------------------------- GU.................. 4 8 7 8 - 27 St. John's.......... 11 7 7 7 - 32 FACE-OFFS BY PRD 1 2 3 4 Total ---------------------------------------------------- GU.................. 1-5 2-6 1-3 6-8 - 10-22 St. John's.......... 4-5 4-6 2-3 2-8 - 12-22 CLEARS BY PERIOD 1 2 3 4 Total ---------------------------------------------------- GU.................. 3-5 2-3 3-4 3-5 - 11-17 St. John's.......... 5-6 1-4 3-3 4-5 - 13-18 EXTRA-MAN OPPS 1 2 3 4 Total ---------------------------------------------------- GU.................. 0-0 1-2 0-0 1-2 - 2-4 St. John's.......... 2-2 0-1 0-1 0-3 - 2-7 SAVES BY PERIOD 1 2 3 4 Tot ------------------------------------- GU.................. 5 3 3 3 - 14 St. John's.......... 2 7 3 3 - 15 TURNOVERS BY PRD 1 2 3 4 Tot ------------------------------------- GU.................. 5 4 4 5 - 18 St. John's.......... 3 3 5 3 - 14