Saint Johns had the epitome of an up-and-down season in 2014 and their record reflected that as they finished the season 7-7. After alternating wins and losses for their first four games they won four out of their next five games until they dropped four of their last five games. The big slide at the end of the season meant no Big East tournament for the Red Storm and of course, no NCAA Tournament appearance.
As they look enter 2015, they may have an even harder time competing in the Big East as they lose a lot of talent because of graduation, most notably on offense. With so much gone due to graduation, here is how the Red Storm will fare this upcoming season.
Offense:
The offense started and ended with Kieran McArdle last season as he led the team with 79 points. This season, the Red Storm not only have to fill his shoes but the entire attack line as well. Fellow seniors Colin Keegan (42 points) and Kevin Cernuto (41 points) are gone as well as two-thirds of their starting midfield in Ryan Fitzgerald (33 points) and Connor Mullen (11 points).
That means five of the team’s top seven scorers will need to be replaced as senior attackman Stefan Diachenko and his 21 points will lead the way for the Red Storm. Diachenko will likely team up with classmate Eric DeJohn (seven points) on attack. Meanwhile, James Bonanno (11 points) leads the way on midfield.
Defense:
The defense will also need to replace some key parts as seniors Drew Viscusi and Joe Addona have graduated. The lone returnees are senior Mark DiFrangia and sophomore goalie Joe Danaher. DiFrangia is one of the best defenders in the Big East as he has been voted a unanimous choice for the Big East preseason team. DiFrangia also ranked 11th nationally in caused turnovers a game at 1.86.
Meanwhile, Danaher had a solid freshmen season as he saved a little over 50 percent of his shots while posting an 11.54 goals against average. Danaher should see a lot of shots this season and should improve given the fact he played the team’s final 13 games. However, replacing Addona and Viscusi will be a large task for the Red Storm.
Faceoff:
Last season, the Red Storm struggled mightily on faceoffs. Mario Carrera took all but 46 faceoffs last season but only won 43 percent of them. He is gone due to graduation and their next faceoff man can’t do worse than that. Senior Jack Lally remains the only player on the team with experience as he was 12-of-27 last year which isn’t much better.
Schedule:
The schedule starts off with some time to break in the new players as they play three winnable games in Rutgers, Jacksonville and Siena. However, they play Stony Brook in the second game of the season which should be a nice early measuring stick. Then the Red Storm catches no breaks as they face Yale, go to Syracuse, play Drexel and go to Hofstra. Holy Cross and Providence follow that four game stretch which could be the team’s last winnable games before they end the year with Marquette, Denver, Villanova and Goergetown.
It will be a down year in Saint John’s with some growing pains as they replace a talented senior class and break in several new starters. Expect them to finish towards the back end of the Big East standings and be one of the worst teams record-wise in all of college lacrosse.
