The men’s lacrosse team capped off its non-conference schedule with an 11-9 win over St. John’s University at Fisher Stadium on Saturday.
Sophomore attacker Ben DiBattista led the Leopards (4-2 overall) with his fifth multi-goal performance of the season, finding the net four times. Freshman attacker Jett Klassen followed with three fourth-quarter goals to secure his second straight hat trick.
“St John’s defense was doing a good job in the first half, but our team just stepped up,” Klassen said. “All the players around us are making Leopard plays.”
The Red Storm (2-3 overall) got on the board first with a strike five and a half minutes in. DiBattista responded a minute later, dashing towards the crease and slotting in his first score. While St. John’s briefly took the lead back out of a timeout, the Leopards rattled off three consecutive goals — courtesy of freshman attacker Charlie Foley, sophomore midfielder Joe Duggan and sophomore attacker Josh Heaney — to steal a 4-2 advantage after the first quarter.
DiBattista kicked off the second with another goal after Duggan spun around his defender and found him outside the crease. St. John’s punched one in 30 seconds later, but went scoreless for the rest of the half, while sophomore midfielder P.J. Hodge cashed in for a 6-3 Leopard lead at halftime.
“We just did a good job respecting every dodge, playing the hand strengths and giving up the shots you want to give up,” senior goalie Joe Doherty said.
Both teams endured a 13-minute-long scoring drought to kick off the second half until the Red Storm broke through with the only goal of the third quarter, cutting the Leopard lead to 6-4.
“We’ve been in that situation before,” Doherty said about the scoreless period. “Sometimes we’re taking great shots, sometimes the ball goes in, sometimes it doesn’t, but just keep playing our game.”
The fourth quarter proved to be the opposite, with a combined 10 goals between the two teams. St. John’s struck first to close the gap to one before Klassen ended the Maroon and White’s 21-minute dry spell a minute later. Both teams proceeded to go goal-for-goal for the next nine minutes, as the Leopards matched the Red Storm’s three goals with two from DiBattista and one from Klassen.
Three Red Storm players were penalized on the possession leading up to DiBattista’s final goal, creating a six-on-four opportunity for the Leopards that Klassen took advantage of to extend the lead to 11-8.
“It’s just the defense pushing the ball,” Klassen said. “Starts off with the goalie, then just moving up the field faster, making the one more.”
St. John’s connected with one minute remaining but could not convert on its following possession, sealing a positive record for the Maroon and White going into Patriot League play.
The Leopards dominated on ground balls, outpacing the Red Storm 34-25. Lafayette’s defense also prevailed while shorthanded, holding St. John’s to just 1-6 in extra-man opportunities.
“Man-down did a hell of a job today, knocking down balls and getting out the shots,” Doherty said. “They killed it.”
The Leopards will host Army (1-0 Patriot League, 6-0 overall) on Friday to initiate their conference slate.
“We know we have a great league, so we got to bring our best every time,” Doherty said. “Starts with getting better every day in practice.”