- For the first time in five years, the St. John’s lacrosse team has taken down a ranked foe. Behind a dominant fourth quarter, the Red Storm rallied to defeat No. 19/18 Hofstra, 9-8, on Saturday afternoon at DaSilva Memorial Field. Junior Colin Duffy broke an 8-8 deadlock with just three seconds remaining to put the Johnnies (6-2) in front for the first time in the contest and capped off the comeback. The victory marked the first over a ranked opponent for St. John’s since March 30, 2013, when the Red Storm shocked the nation with a 12-10 win over top-ranked Notre Dame in South Bend. The win also snaps a 21-game winless streak against ranked foes. St. John’s has now won four-consecutive games and moves to 5-0 on its home field for the first time since the program’s reinstatement in 2005. Joe Madsen led the way in scoring for the Red Storm, tallying a trio of goals for his sixth multi-goal game of the season. The sophomore now takes sole possession of the team lead in goals with 21, setting a new career high in the process. Jason DeBenedictis also tallied a pair of strikes on six shots to also eclipse the 20-goal mark on the year. Declan Swartwood (1g, 1a) and Duffy (1g, 1a) each tallied multi-point outings in the victory, with Duffy’s goal proving to be the game decider. Reigning BIG EAST Attack of the Week, Mike Madsen continued his solid sophomore season with his 11th goal of the season and a groundball. Justin Corpolongo proved to be the top man inside the X for the Red Storm, finishing with eight faceoff victories, scoring his second goal of the year, and collecting four groundballs. Between the pipes, Matt Hanley turned aside 12 shots for the senior’s sixth victory of the season. The Bethpage native surrendered six goals during the opening half, but responded by only allowing a pair of shots to get by over the final 30 minutes, including a perfect fourth quarter. Saturday marks the first time since the program’s reinstatement in 2005 that St. John’s has allowed fewer than 10 goals in five-consecutive games. The last time the Johnnies allowed an opponent to reach double digits in goals was High Point on Feb. 24. The Red Storm won the shot, 35-31, and the groundball, 21-20, battles as Joe Madsen led the game with nine shots and Luke Roediger snagged five groundballs to lead the team. Hofstra (4-4) took the lead on the game’s opening possession, but DeBenedictis answered back just over a minute later off some beautiful tic-tac-toe. Joe Madsen started the play in the offensive zone to spark a 3-on-2 rush in transition where the sophomore laid a pass off to DeBenedictis, who worked the give-and-go with Duffy, and the senior buried the return pass to level the score at one. Following the St. John’s goal, it was the Pride who began to take over the game offensively. Dylan McIntosh scored a pair of goals in just over 30 seconds to quickly give the visitors a 3-1 lead at the end of the first quarter. Hofstra stretched its lead to three in the opening moments of the second frame when McIntosh collected his fourth goal of the half, depositing a rebound following a Hanley save for a 4-1 advantage. DeBenedictis replied with his second goal of the contest, cutting back to the middle of the field and beating Jack Concannon on the short side. Following a fifth goal by McIntosh, Corey Haynes set up Joe Madsen just a minute later for his first of the game as the sophomore went low-to-high over Concannon to cut the deficit to 5-3 at the halfway mark of the second quarter. McIntosh continued to pour it on for the Pride, scoring his sixth goal of the first half on his sixth shot of the contest, but the Johnnies continued to answer. Swartwood added his seventh of the season with a great piece of individual effort when the junior beat the defender to the net and scored to once again bring the deficit down to a pair, 6-4, with just over four minutes to play in the opening half. St. John’s nearly struck right before the halftime buzzer, but Haynes was denied by Concannon as the visitors carried a 6-4 lead into the break. The six goals through the opening 30 minutes were the most allowed by the Red Storm since Mar. 3 at North Carolina when the Tar Heels scored seven. In the opening moments of the second half, the Johnnies looked to have scored their fifth of the contest, but Concannon made another great save on DeBenedictis right in front of the net to keep the Pride’s two-goal lead. Hofstra worked possession following the save and earned a man-up opportunity with Matt Stockfeder called for an illegal body check. The Pride cashed in on the man advantage when Trevor Kupecky scored the first Hofstra goal by a player not named Dylan McIntosh, stretching the lead back to a trio of goals. St. John’s began to apply the pressure over the next four minutes, firing a pair of back-to-back shots and drawing an extra-man chance. The Red Storm struck on the power play when Joe Madsen tallied his second of the game off a nice feed from Matt Oehl to turn the momentum back towards the home side. Just 17 seconds later, the Johnnies cut the lead to 7-6 off a wild sequence of events. Kyle Gallagher won the draw for the Pride and made a run at goal, but was turned away by Hanley. The senior goalkeeper then fired an outlet pass to Corpolongo who went coast-to-coast and saw his shot trickle just over the line to make it 7-6 with 7:06 to play in the third. Hofstra snatched the momentum back with a tally late in the stanza to extend the lead back to 8-6, but entering the fourth the Johnnies began to chip away again. Mike Madsen scored his first of the game off a great centering feed by Swartwood to bring the deficit down to 8-7 before Joe Madsen evened the game for the first time since the contest was 1-1 when the sophomore faked a shot to free himself and rocketed a shot past Concannon to level the score with 10:54 to play. Both teams had chances to take the lead over the final minutes. Duffy was called for delay of game following a St. John’s turnover with just 2:02 to play, putting the Pride on a man-up opportunity. Brendan Kavanagh, already with one goal on the day, had the best look of the advantage, but Hanley was there to make the save as the Red Storm survived the chance. With the clock winding down, Duffy went around the net, fired a shot while falling to the ground that found twine, and gave the Johnnies their first lead of the game with just three ticks remaining. Hofstra got a final look at goal, but the shot was blocked as the Red Storm held on for the victory. St. John’s will open BIG EAST Conference play next Saturday as the Johnnies travel to Providence.