St. John’s lost a 19-9 decision to Hofstra in its final outing of the 2020 season. It began this year with an encore outing against the Pride and earned a 19-18 victory on Mike Madsen’s overtime goal.

From afar, there’s some temptation to look at Saturday’s season debut as a promising measuring stick. For Red Storm coach Jason Miller, the present is harrowing enough, and there’s no need for comparisons to even a year ago.

Despite a career day from Ryan Tierney, St. John's won a thriller of Hofstra on Mike Madsen's game-winner in OT.

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— US Lacrosse Magazine (@USLacrosseMag) February 14, 2021

“Coming into this game, I think we were able to be a little bit more prepared for some of the things they might do to us and have some better answers,” Miller said. “Especially this year, without any scrimmages, with limited practices, with a revolving door in terms of who’s out there for practice on what day, which we’re all dealing with, you have to work really hard and not use it as a barometer of what’s happened this year as opposed to years past.”

To be clear, there was a lot Miller liked about how St. John’s handled things. It played with a sense of purpose in the two-man game, especially in the second half. It had just 12 turnovers and was perfect on 17 clears. 

Nine players scored. Madsen (two goals, three assists) and his brother Joe (four goals, one assists) were the top point-getters, but Jonathan Huber, Ryan Schaeffer and Dylan Willis each had a hat trick. It was the Red Storm’s largest offensive output since a 20-13 defeat of Rutgers in 2013, and their most goals in a road game since a 24-7 drubbing of Siena in 1991.

“I like our pass count,” Miller said. “We talk about that, we work on that and we want to have pass counts on our possessions. I like the number of guys who scored, which is awesome. I don’t want the Madsen brothers to have to carry the load for us every single game for us to win a game, so the fact they scored and Willis scored and Schafer scored and [Matt] Duncan scored and [Thomas] Martello scored. All of those are really good things for us long term.”

All of it is welcome as St. John’s delves into a 10-week grind of conference games. The Big East opted for a double round-robin league schedule, and the Red Storm begins its Big East slate Sunday at home against Providence.

“The last time I looked, there were four Big East teams in the top 20 or getting votes,” Miller said. “That makes eight out of 10 games against top 20 teams. That would probably be the hardest schedule we’ve ever played here. It’s daunting, but I think our guys feel like we can be competitive with anybody anytime we go out there. I think they’re really looking forward to the challenge.”