Marquette escaped St. John’s with its NCAA Tournament hopes still alive, finishing the game on a 6-1 run to erase a disastrous first half. Midfielder Andy DeMichiei set a new Marquette single-game goal record, matching the entire St. John’s offense in the Golden Eagles 11-7 victory.
“(DeMichiei was) just doing his job,” said Marquette head coach Joe Amplo. “He was the benefactor of other guys making good plays and he made good shots. Andy told me on Sunday night, Monday morning in an email, ‘I’m going to be more productive. That’s going to be my difference maker this week.’ He benefitted from all that hard work.”
The Golden Eagles struggled against St. John’s zone defense in the first half, settling for outside shots and turning the ball over five times. St. John’s controlled possession, outshooting Marquette 24-10 in the first two frames.
“It’s the perfect day to play zone because it’s cold, wet and rainy,” Amplo said. “Our stick skills weren’t as sharp as they needed to be.”
Cole Blazer struggled in his second start, giving up three goals on St. John’s first three shots on goal. Down 6-4 at half, Amplo made the move back to Jimmy Danaher, who looked much sharper than he did against Georgetown. The only goal he allowed was when the Red Storm were two men up.
When Marquette’s stingy defense returned to form, the offense started clicking as well. The Golden Eagles scored six straight goals to start the second half. Four of those came from DeMichiei, who nearly matched his career total of 12 goals today.
“I challenged our guys at halftime to step up and take control of the moment,” Amplo said. “They did.”
Zack Melillo suffered a minor injury on his first face-off but didn’t miss any time. He went 13-for-21 from the face-off X and now holds the program record for face-offs won in a season (125). He has four regular season games left to build on that total.
Ryan McNamara was the only Golden Eagle besides DeMichiei to score more than one goal. He had two in addition to two assists. Kyran Clarke and Tanner Thomson each scored once.
Eric DeJohn, who returned for St. John’s after missing three games with injury, led the Red Storm with a goal and two assists.
The Golden Eagles move to 3-0 in conference and 8-1 overall.
Marquette travels to South Bend, Indiana Wednesday to battle No. 1 Notre Dame. The Golden Eagles haven’t defeated the Fighting Irish in three attempts. Notre Dame is led by two of the most explosive offensive threats in Division I lacrosse, Matt Kavanagh and Sergio Perkovic. The defensive unit is led by Matt Landis, the first defenseman taken in this year’s MLL Draft.
