“Coming into this game, I think we were able to be a little bit more prepared for some of the things they might do to us and have some better answers,” Miller said. “Especially this year, without any scrimmages, with limited practices, with a revolving door in terms of who’s out there for practice on what day, which we’re all dealing with, you have to work really hard and not use it as a barometer of what’s happened this year as opposed to years past.”
To be clear, there was a lot Miller liked about how St. John’s handled things. It played with a sense of purpose in the two-man game, especially in the second half. It had just 12 turnovers and was perfect on 17 clears.
In what was college lacrosse’s first overtime action of the 2021 season, St. John’s came out on top against Hofstra thanks to balanced scoring and a crucial stop.
Despite eight goals and a career-high 11 points from Hofstra attackman Ryan Tierney, the Red Storm proved resilient and got an important turnover just as Justin Sykes’ was readying to unload a shot, barreling down toward Cameron Bieler’s net. St. John’s head coach Jason Miller called a timeout and drew up a set that got grad senior attackman Mike Madsen free for an open look at the point, which he buried with a bounce shot to win the high-scoring affair, 19-18.