Jeff Tundo's 5 goals, 4 assists lead Stony Brook past St. John's

Jeff Tundo's career day came in an important game for Stony Brook's lacrosse team. Playing against No. 21 St. John's -- and Big East preseason player of the year Kieran McArdle -- presented another measuring stick in the non-conference schedule.

Tundo, a senior midfielder, helped the visiting Seawolves (2-2) pass the test big-time. He had five goals and four assists for a career-high nine points Tuesday in an 11-7 victory over St. John's (2-1).

"He was unbelievable,'' coach Jim Nagle said of Tundo. "We've been talking to him since he got here about keeping level, and the last two weeks his leadership had been unbelievable. Everything he's been doing, he's been buying in 100 percent. It's one of the better performances I've seen.''

Tundo had three of Stony Brook's four goals in the second quarter, and the Seawolves led 7-3 at the half. He made it 8-3 early in the third, and when St. John's closed to within 8-5 on two goals by Connor Mullen with 4:35 left in the third, Tundo broke the momentum with an unassisted goal.

"I'm not really worried about a career high in points,'' Tundo said. "It's cool to score a lot of goals, but mainly it helps us win.''

Tundo was backed by Mike Rooney, who had two goals and two assists. Matt Schultz added two goals. Frank Lucatuorto won 14 of 21 faceoffs, and freshman Dan Shaughnessy made nine saves.

McArdle (one goal, four assists) was disappointed by St. John's performance.

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"This was a big game for the NCAA Tournament,'' said the senior attack and Connetquot graduate. "Coming off a big win [over Yale], I guess our heads just weren't in the game. At all ends of the field, we just weren't ourselves today.

"Our goal this year was to take the Island, win against Stony Brook and Hofstra. We didn't get that done today.''

Pride tops Fairfield. Torin Varn and Sam Llinares each scored two goals to lead visiting Hofstra (2-1) to a 9-2 win over No. 13 Fairfield (2-2).