Leading No. 12/12 Rutgers, 15-12, early in the fourth quarter of the squad's season opener, the St. John's lacrosse team saw the Scarlet Knights score the final seven goals of the game en route to a 19-15 victory on a frigid Saturday afternoon at DaSilva Memorial Field. Mike Madsen led the way offensively for St. John's (0-1), as the junior midfielder ended the day with five points on four goals and an assist. The Locust Valley, N.Y., native led the Johnnies with seven of his eight shots on goal. Two other members of the Red Storm tallied multi-goal games, as Declan Swartwood tallied his fifth career hat trick and Chris Buscemi found the back of the net twice. In total, 10 Johnnies tallied points in the contest, including a third quarter goal from Jonathan Huber that marked the first of the redshirt freshman's career. Brody Agres, a freshman from Farmingdale, N.Y., minded the net for the Red Storm and recorded eight saves in 60 minutes of action. Joseph Fitzpatrick and sophomore Colin Bosak split duties at the faceoff, as St. John's topped Rutgers at the X, 22-16. Fitzpatrick, a sophomore, won 21 of his 37 faceoffs attempts. In what was a well-paced and clean game that only saw six penalties between the two teams, Rutgers outshot the Johnnies, 45-41, and won the groundballs battle, 35-27. The Scarlet Knights kept St. John's attack off balance at times, forcing the Johnnies into 16 turnovers, 13 of which were caused. Both teams played a tight and defensive minded first quarter, which only saw six goals between the teams. The Red Storm struck first in the contest with two quick goals, scored by Madsen and Ryan Schaefer, assisted by Colin Duffy and Chris Buscemi, respectively. Rutgers would answer back with four straight goals to take a 4-2 advantage into the second period. After leading, 4-2, at the start of the second period, Rutgers would prove to be too much for the Johnnies to handle as they increased its lead to 9-3, only six minutes into the quarter. However, the Johnnies showed their resiliency as they answered back with six goals of their own to close the first half all square at nine goals apiece. Mike and Joe Madsen added a combined three goals, as Swartwood, Chris Buscemi and Matt Stockfeder each tallied goals during their 6-0 scoring run to end the half. Just like the first period, the Johnnies and the Scarlet Knights combined for six goals (three each) in a physical and hard-fought third quarter. St. John's scored the first two goals of the second half on strikes from Huber and Duffy. Rutgers quickly scored two goals as Kieran Mullins (six goals, three assists) and Adam Charalambides (four goals, one assist) fired shots past Agres to tie the game at 11. St. John's and Rutgers entered the fourth period tied at 12 as Mike Madsen and Rutgers' Tommy Coyne traded goals late in the third period. The Red Storm began the last fifteen minutes of play in stellar form as Swartwood and Matt Oehl combined for three unanswered goals to give St. John's a 15-12 lead with ten minutes left in the game. However, the Scarlet Knights closed the final ten minutes of the game in dominant fashion, as they ended the contest with a 7-0 scoring run to defeat the Johnnies by four goals. Mullins scored the final three goals of the game for the Scarlet Knights. David Sprock, Ryan Gallagher, and Casey Rose also tallied goals for Rutgers during the scoring run. St. John's travels to Hartford, Conn., next Saturday, Feb. 16, to take on the University of Hartford at 1 p.m.