The Irish captured their second Big East victory in a row with a 13-6 road win over St. John's Saturday.
"[The win] was one we had to have," Irish coach Kevin Corrigan said. "Now we have some momentum going into this weekend."
Corrigan was pleased with the play of the offense, defense and transition game.
"We played well in a lot of aspects of the game," Corrigan said. "Other than maybe clearing the ball, we were effective in many different areas."
The Irish (7-5, 2-3 Big East) gained an early lead and did not relinquish it, never trailing in the 60 minutes of play. The first quarter did not have an abundance of scoring, but that changed in the second period of play. After the Red Storm tied the game at 2-2 with 11:37 remaining before halftime, the Irish scored eight unanswered goals to take a commanding lead.
The Irish scored in many ways, getting contributions from both the midfield and attack. Senior midfielder Grant Krebs posted his fourth hat trick of the season, senior attack Neal Hicks and junior midfielder Zach Brenneman each had two goals and an assist and sophomore attack Sean Rogers had two goals.
Senior goalkeeper Scott Rodgers started between the pipes and played most of the game, making 13 saves. Senior Brendan Moore finished the effort in goal by playing the final eight minutes and had three saves.
With wins over Providence and now St. John's, the Irish have built momentum heading into their biggest game of the season against Big East frontrunner and two-time defending national champion No. 1 Syracuse Saturday in Arlotta Stadium.
"It's not just that we won these two games, but that we played well in both games," Corrigan said. "You don't build confidence by anything other than successful repetitions."
After dropping their first three Big East games, the Irish can climb back into the NCAA Tournament picture.
"The challenge is going to be a bit different against Syracuse," Corrigan said.
The Orange will come into Saturday's match with a full head of steam. They have won nine straight, and their only loss is to No. 2 Virginia in a nonconference showdown in Charlottesville.
"If we do all the right things, and I know we can, then we can come away with a win," Corrigan said.
