St. John's lax season opener moved to Friday

St. John's men's lacrosse, looking to bounce back from a rough 3-11 season overall (and 1-4 in the Big East) will start the season on Friday at 3:00 PM, not Saturday as originally scheduled.

The game will be against Rutgers. The Red Storm opened the season against the Scarlet Knights in Queens last year, falling 10-8 at home despite taking a lead in the third quarter.

From St. John's release:

...the St. John's lacrosse season-opener has been moved up to Friday, Feb. 10 at 3 p.m. due to forecasts of inclement weather.

Friday's contest will still be played at High Point Solutions Stadium on the Rutgers University campus in Piscataway, N.J.

The current forecast calls for a high temperature of 18 degrees, with winds of 20 to 30 miles per hour.

The Red Storm lost a pair of games by over ten points (to the eventual NCAA Champions Denver and do 6-8 Villanova), but were fairly competitive in two other league losses. Despite returning two goalies from last year's effort, St. John's may be turning to a redshirt freshman, Michael O'Keeffe, to help improve the defense - judging by the Inside Lacrosse report from their fall scrimmage.

Senior attackman Eric DeJohn was a unanimous preseason All Big East selection; St. John's as a team was predicted to finish last, just behind Providence.

Rutgers is coming off of a 5-10 season, and may struggle to win a game in the Big Ten.