St. John's three-point plan for lacrosse

Rick Sowell rebuilt the St. John's lacrosse team when the sport was reintroduced to the school in 2005. Now it looks like Jason Miller is re-rebuilding it.

Miller, who replaced Sowell when he jumped to Stony Brook after two seasons with the Red Storm, is in the process of putting his own imprint on the St. John's program. Gone are all of Sowell's recruits, and Miller is playing a lineup heavy in freshmen and sophomores.

"It's not to get experience," Miller said on Tuesday night after a 9-4 loss to Stony Brook. "They're playing because they're our best players. They just happen to be freshmen and sophomores."

Two who stood out on Tuesday were sophomore goalie Jeff Lowman and freshman defenseman Joe Addona, who did a really good job of matching up against Stony Brook's Kevin Crowley. Freshman Kieran McArdle (Connetquot) also showed some good signs at attack while playing off an injury.

St. John's may be 1-4 this season, but they are playing a hellacious schedule that has already included No. 16 Yale and No. 5 Stony Brook. Next week, they play No. 4 Hofstra, and in the weeks ahead No. 3 Notre Dame and No. 1 Syracuse.

But that's part of Miller's formula, which he said has three parts:

1. Play as difficult a schedule as possible

2. Recruit harder than they ever have before

3. Bring in players who, as Miller said after the Stony Brook game, "want to play in games like this."

That's the way Stony Brook built itself from mediocrity to a regular Top 10 team and a title contender this season. A few years from now, we just might be looking at Miller's Red Storm team making some noise in an NCAA Tournament or two.

They may even surprise one of the ranked teams they are still scheduled to face this season.