5/1 - 5/3 Weekend Preview

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. - They say "April showers bring May flowers". Whether that's true or not, Wednesday's rain will bring history during the first week in May up at Saint John's University.

For the first time, Saint John's will play host to the 2009 Upper Midwest Lacrosse League (UMLL) Division II Playoff Final Four.

Saint John's also has the chance to capture their fifth UMLL Division II Championship in the past six years.

The UMLL DII playoff seedings are as follows:

#1 Saint John's University
#2 University of Saint Thomas
#3 Saint Olaf College
#4 North Dakota State University
#5 Minnesota State University - Moorhead
#6 Carleton College

The Johnnies and the Tommies have first round byes and automatically advance to the semifinals.

On Friday, May 1st the quarterfinal games will be played at Husky Stadium on the campus of St. Cloud State University

North Dakota State (#4) will play MSU-Moorhead (#5) at 5:15 p.m (Game B1). The winner of that game will advance to play Saint John's. The other quarterfinal game, Saint Olaf (#3) vs. Carleton (#6) at 7:30 p.m. (Game B2), will determine who plays Saint Thomas.

On Saturday, May 2nd the UMLL Division II Final Four will be held at Clemens Stadium on the campus of Saint John's University.

At noon, #1 Saint John's will play the Game B1 winner (Game B3).
At 3 p.m., #2 Saint Thomas will play the Game B2 winner (Game B4).

On Sunday, May 3rd the UMLL Division II Championship game will take place at 10:45 a.m.

The game will feature the Game B3 winner against the Game B4 winner.

In recent years, Saint John's and Saint Thomas have advanced to play each other in the championship game and it looks like 2009 will be no different.

Saint John's is the defending champion and has won the UMLL Division II Championship in 2004, 2005, 2007 and, most recently, in 2008.

Updates will be posted on this website and if there is another Johnnie/Tommie match-up, be sure you're there to see who takes home the 2009 UMLL Division II Championship and punches their ticket to Denver, Colo. for the 2009 MCLA National Championship Tournament.

PICTURES

Thank you to everyone who has sent me pictures so far this year. I have not been able to post them up on the website until now. Please keep snapping away and send me those pictures! Thank you!

Without further ado, I present to you...

Fall Ball Pictures by Mark Zallek

Saint John's vs. Grand Valley State University Pictures by Lynn Freeman

Saint John's vs. Grand Valley State University Pictures by Steve Sanner

Saint John's vs. Grand Valley State University Pictures by Mark Zallek*

Saint John's vs. University of Saint Thomas Pictures by Steve Sanner

Saint John's vs. St. Olaf College Pictures by Steve Sanner

Saint John's vs. Davenport University Pictures by Steve Sanner

Saint John's vs. University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire Pictures by Steve Sanner

Saint John's vs. University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire Pictures by Mark Zallek*

* - Requires...
USERNAME: sjulacrosse
PASSWORD: gojohnnies

Again thank you to everyone for the pictures so far. Be sure to join us this weekend up at Saint John's and keep those cameras in action!

The Start of Something Good

For the longest time, we have been talking about the need for a new website. Actions are already in place to give the Johnnies a new, better looking and organized webpage for the 2009-2010 season and beyond.

Home Teams Online is a website that creates homepages for sports teams and leagues of all sports, ages, levels, conferences, etc. The University of St. Thomas revamped its own homepage by switching to a Home Teams Online webpage a few years ago. The College of St. Benedict Girls Lacrosse team also switched to a Home Teams Online webpage and their league, the North Central Women's Lacrosse League, also used Home Teams Online for their homepage.

Although the previous website was free to use and maintain it was also difficult to manage and edit. Saint John's University has since gotten rid of the program that was originally used to create the website, Front Page 2003, on all campus computers. This makes it, again, very hard to edit since I am the only one with a copy of the program on my computer.

Having a Home Teams Online account will greatly benefit the program and give the Saint John's website the extra boost it has needed over previous years.

Unfortunately it does not come cheap. The site will require $95 a year to maintain. However we will get what we pay for. To see all the features we will get click here (we are pursuing the All-Star package).

Currently, the website is running under the basic package (schedule, scores and roster) which will work for now.

To see the current website and get a little preview of what the website will look like click here.

PLEASE let me know if you have any suggestions, comments or concerns regarding the new website!

Thank you! I will post more later!

- Mike Murakami
SJU Class of 2010
Webmaster, and Communications Officer

4/24 - 4/26 Weekend Recap

The April 24-26 weekend saw the Johnnies first loss of the regular season.

The Johnnies faced off against Davenport University (Michigan) on Saturday, April 25th at Hopkins High School. Depending on which poll you looked at, the Johnnies were ranked either #1 or #3 in the nation and the Panthers of Davenport were ranked #5 or #6.

The Johnnies won the opening face-off and brought the ball into the Davenport zone. Some crisp passing and a great possession ended when the Johnnies' Brandon Brinkman (Junior, Midfield) sniped a top corner, thanks to some fancy footwork, to put the Johnnies up 1-0.

Davenport answered back in a hurry and pumped in three goals in the first quarter to take a 3-2 lead into the second quarter.

The Johnnies would most likely want to forget the second quarter. The Panthers have been outstanding in the second quarter or their games this year and this game was no exception. The Panthers out shot the Johnnies 9-5 and put six of those shots in the net. The Panthers went confidently into halftime with a 9-3 lead and out shooting the Johnnies 15-8. Davenport goalie Zach Higgins (Freshman) looked very good in net for the Panthers.

A disappointing sight to see was a second quarter injury to the Johnnies' Stu Van Ess (Junior, Goalie). While bring the ball up field on a clear, Van Ess was slashed violently on the right arm and immediately fell to the turf. Van Ess would leave the field under his own power and was taken to a hospital for X-rays. The X-rays were negative and he was diagnossed with a severe deep bone contusion. No penalty was called on the play.

After a halftime speech that refocused the Johnnies, the second half seemed to favor the home team. The Johnnies' would also need a big game from another one of their goalies and they got just that from Joe Nelson (Junior, Goalie).

The Johnnies out shot the Panthers 20-8 in the second half. The Johnnies got offense from Ryan Bailey (Junior, Midfield) and captain Brian Strauss (Senior, Attack) who had two goals each. Goals from captain Michael Freeman (Senior, Defense), Lance Wheeler (Senior, Midfield), Mike Burgeson (Junior, Attack), Sam Gondeck (Sophomore, Midfield) and an absolute snipe from Alex Fulton (Freshman, Attack) provided the drama as the Johnnies, who had been down by six at half, came within two goals of tying the game.

Unfortunately there was not enough time for the Johnnies to tie the game up. Davenport's Shawn Beer (Sophomore, Attack) notched four goals and Oliver Wade (Sophomore, Midfield) and Jordan Richtsmeier (Freshman, Attack) had two goals each. The Panthers also got scoring from Galvin Morris (Sophomore, Attack), Jordy Sayers (Sophomore, Midfield), Jordan Costa (Freshman, Midfield), and Jeff Samuels (Freshman, Midfield).

The final score of the game was 12-10 in favor of the Panthers.

The Johnnies would like to thank Davenport for coming to Minnesota and for a great game!

The Johnnies day was not over after that game however.

Ainsworth Park in St. Louis Park was the venue for the last game of the regular season for the Johnnies. A special thanks to the University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire who made the trip up to the Twins Cities for the game!

With Van Ess being checked out at the hospital and Nelson resting after the last game, James Darcy (Sophomore, Goalie) got the start in net for the Johnnies.

The Johnnie seniors were announced as game captains and started the game, giving the starters from the Davenport game a rest.

The Blugolds caught the Johnnies off-guard and possibly played off a fatigued Johnnie team to jump out to a quick lead after the first quarter. Out playing a tired Johnnie team, the Blugolds added to the lead in the second and third quarters. They held the lead until the final quarter when the rested Johnnies' starters were put back into the game. The Johnnies pumped in 11 unanswered goals in the fourth quarter and won the game 18-11.

Thank you to everyone who attended the two games this weekend! A very special thank you to the two teams who crossed state borders to play the Johnnies! Another special thank you to all the photographers who have sent in their photos for the weekend!

Johnnie Red You Know!

The #3 Saint John's University Johnnies upset the #1 University of Saint Thomas Tommies 6-2 today at O'Shaughnessy Field on the campus of St. Thomas.

The Tommies drew first blood in the game. Andrew Larson (Jr., Midfield) scored off a fast break that beat Johnnie goalie Stu Van Ess (Jr.). The Johnnies quickly responded with a strong shot from ten yards out by Brandon Brinkman (Jr., Midfield) that snuck by Tommie goalie Jaime Hoffman (Sr.).

Former Johnnie Nic Michaelson added another tally for the Tommies but that would be the last goal they would score.

Another former Johnnie Tony Sadder (Jr., Midfield) put one past Van Ess but the goal would not stand. Sadder was called and penalized for having a stick with a pocket that was too deep. The goal was wiped off the scoreboard and the Johnnies took momentum.

Goals by Alex Fulton (Fr., Attack), John Burke (Fr., Midfield), captains Brian Strauss (Sr., Attack) and Justin Gervais (Sr., Midfield) and Jake Mellem (So., Midfield) added to the Johnnies' lead.

The game saw its fair share of penalties for both teams which led to time spent 'man up' and 'man down'.

Van Ess played absolutely brilliant for the Johnnies making 32 saves and when the final seconds ran off the clock, Saint John's rushed the field to celebrate with their goalie.

Defenseman Brennan Harrington (Jr.) was injured with 43 seconds left in the fourth quarter. He has helped off the field and was taken to Tria for assessment. Fortunately he was diagnosed with a contusion to his knee with no ligament damage. He is expected to sit out for tomorrow's game against St. Olaf but should return for next weekend's games.

Thank you to all the family, students and fans that came out to support the Johnnies today! It was great to see a lot of red in the St. Thomas stadium and hear some cheers! Thank you again!

Tommie/Johnnie Game

The Johnnies and Tommies will faceoff today; April 18, 2009.

The game will take place at noon at O'Shaughnessy Stadium on the University of St. Thomas campus.

The Tommies are currently ranked as the number one team in the nation according to the April 15th poll by Prodigy. The Tommies are led by outstanding midfielders Cooper Mazon (11 g, 7 a - 18 pts), Joe Costello (11 g, 6 a - 17 pts), Andrew Larson (10 g, 4 a - 14 pts) and Tony Sadder (8 g, 3 a - 11 pts). Attackman Jason King leads the team in points with 19 (12 g, 7 a).

The Johnnies are currently ranked as the number three team in the nation according to the same poll. The attackman for the Johnnies are leading the team offensively. Alex Fulton is the point leader with 15 (11 g, 4 a), captain Brian Strauss is not far behind with 12 (4 g, 8 a) and tied with Strauss is Matt Williamson (8 g, 4 a).

The Johnnies will play underdogs today attempt the upset of the number one team in the nation. This is sure to be a phenomenal game, one that Minnesota rarely has. Please show up and support the Johnnie lacrosse team!!!

WEAR RED FOR THE JOHNNIES!!!!

JOHNNIE RED YOU KNOW!!!

Johnnie Lacrosse Summer Camp!

Boy’s Johnnie Lax Camp ‘09
St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minn.
June 17‐21

The Johnnie Lacrosse Camp is designed not only to improve individual camper’s lacrosse skills and knowledge of the game, but also to provide a truly unique learning experience. This one of a kind experience focuses on creating an environment that fosters new relationships while being immersed in all that the largest campus in the nation has to offer. The camp price is extremely competitive for a four day and four night residential camp, especially if one takes advantage of discounts. The camp is also offered at a day camp rate for those that are able to make the commute to and from St. John’s daily.

The Johnnie Lacrosse camp staff has been carefully chosen based on their love and ability to play the game, as well as their ability to instruct and relate to each individual camper.

Campers will be divided by age, size and skill level. This will ensure proper instruction during individual position training, group/team concepts, and live game situations. Groups will consist of 7th‐8th graders and 9th‐12th graders.

Camper‐counselor ratios are guaranteed to be 9:1, or lower.

Special guests such as Harrow’s regional representative Brock Simon will also be on site displaying the latest and greatest lacrosse gear.

Day Camp: $295. Campers must arrive at 9 a.m. and be picked up at 8 p.m. each day.

Overnight Camp: $395. Campers must arrive between 6‐8 p.m. in front of Mary Hall on June
17th and picked up at 3 p.m. on June 21.

Goalies Day/Overnight Camp: $195.

For more information or to register go to:
http://www.minnesotalacrosseskillsclinics.com/index/Camps.html

Or contact Justin Gervais - 651.492.5412
justin@minnesotalacrosseskillsclinics.com

Please Pray for Missing UST Student!!

The Saint John's lacrosse team will be keeping Dan Zamlen in their thoughts and prayers this week.

Zamlen, 18, is a student at the University of St. Thomas who went missing Saturday night when he was walking home from a party.

For details on the story, please read the StarTribune's article here:

http://www.startribune.com/local/stpaul/42498757.html?elr=KArks:DCiUoaW_eEO7UiacyKUnciaec8O7EyUr

Events such as this break down all barriers of our fierce rivalry. We are all hoping Dan will be found, safe and sound.

I am imploring the Johnnie Lax nation to please keep him and his family in your thoughts and prayers.

- Mike Murakami
SJU Class of 2010
Webmaster, and Communications Officer

Weekend Results

What a big weekend for the Johnnies!

The Johnnnies took on the Lakers from Grand Valley State University on Saturday, April 4th at the University of St. Thomas. Depending on what poll you looked at GVSU was either ranked 1st, 2nd or 3rd in the country. St. John's was ranked around 5th.

The game started with both teams very excited and ready to play. Both sides could be heard yelling and getting pumped up for the game.

The Johnnies took control of the game and after an almost scoreless 1st quarter, captain Brian Strauss (Sr., Attack) ripped a shot past the GVSU goaltender. Saint John's contained and used the momentum throughout the second half and took a 4-1 lead into halftime.

Grand Valley came out firing in the second half and pumped in three unanswered goals to tie the game 4-4.

The Johnnies would not go away easily and after an action packed third quarter Saint John's held a 6-4.

GVSU kept fighting but could not withstand the Johnnies. They found themselves down two with less than a minute to go.

Superb defense and goaltending proved too much for the Lakers and the Johnnies rushed the field to celebrate a 9-7 victory.


On Sunday the Johnnies played the Dragons from Minnesota State University - Moorhead. On the snowy football field in Minnetonka the Johnnies won 13-3.

A special thanks to Grand Valley State University for traveling out to play! The Lakers were a very classy team and we enjoyed playing them! We look forward to seeing you and hanging out in Denver, Colo. for Nationals. A special thanks to MSU-Moorhead for traveling down to play! You are in our thoughts and prayers and hope that the levees will hold up there! Also a special thanks to the University of St. Thomas for hosting the game on Saturday and Minnetonka High School for hosting the game on Sunday.

And, of course, a VERY special thank you to OUR FANS who came to the games this weekend! It means a lot to the boys to look up in the stands and see Johnnie Red! Thank you very much!

GAME ON SUNDAY!!!!

BREAKING NEWS...

The Johnnies will be playing the Minnesota State University - Moorhead Dragons on Sunday at Minnetonka.

The game on Sunday against MSUM will be played at Minnetonka High School on the football field at 10:30 a.m.

Minnesota State Univeristy - Moorhead

@

Saint John's University

Sunday, April 5th, 2009

10:30 a.m.

Minnetonka High School

Please keep the Dragons in your thoughts and prayers as they travel down for the game as they have had a rough few weeks!

GAMES THIS WEEK

Thank you Mother Nature!

After a series of around 60 degree weather, the campus of Saint John's University and the surrounding area was blanketed with several inches of snow earlier this week.

What does this mean? Good news and bad news.

Bad news...

Unfortunately it means we need to cancel the games at Saint John's this weekend.

Good news...

WE ARE STILL PLAYING AGAINST GRAND VALLEY STATE UNIVERSITY TOMORROW (SATURDAY, APRIL 4th)

With thanks to our honorable rivals, the St. Thomas Tommies, we were able to lock up O'Shaughnessy stadium and will be playing GVSU at 1 p.m.

Please come out and wear RED to support the Johnnies!

So...

#3 Grand Valley State University

@

#6 Saint John's University

Saturday, April 4th 2009

1 p.m.

O'Shaughnessy Stadium on the campus of the University of St. Thomas

Hope to see you all there!