QUEENS, N.Y. - On Saturday, October 20, the St. John's men's lacrosse team competed in the 10th annual Price Modern Lacrosse For Leukemia Tournament in its first fall exhibition tournament of 2007.

The tournament, held in Brooklandville, Md., benefits the Maryland chapter of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, which raises money to cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and myeloma, and to improve the quality of life of patients and their families.

Each team is paired with an "honorary captain," a child who is currently undergoing treatment for blood cancer. The Red Storm's honorary captain was 7-year-old Jason Stuart, who has been fighting cancer since the age of three.

As a team, the Red Storm presented Stuart with a Harley Davidson mini-bike and a helmet with a St. John's logo. In addition to the bike, the team also gave Stuart some Red Storm lacrosse gear, including a St. John's lacrosse jersey signed by the 2007-08 squad.

"The tournament organizer's provided us with a bio on Jason," said head coach Jason Miller. "The thing that really jumped out at us was, in his mom's words, ‘his love, to play, play, play.' She said he loved to play in the dirt and ride his bike. I put the idea about getting him a new bike out to the guys, and they bought it the next day. He was thrilled. We watched him ride it around the lobby of the hotel for a long time. I don't think the hotel staff thought it was such a great idea, but there was no way I was going to tell him to stop."

Stuart spent the day with the Red Storm, attending its pre-game meal and helping Miller on the sidelines against UMBC and Mount St. Mary's.

During the post-game tailgate, the team also signed a three by three foot poster for one of the Red Storm's avidly loyal fans who was recently hospitalized for Leukemia.

"The smile on his face, to me, made the whole weekend," remarked Miller. "The smallest gestures can make such an impact on someone. It was a couple dollars per guy, but when they put it together, it made a little boy who has had a pretty rough seven years smile. It was awesome."

The twelve-team exhibition tournament was held at St. Paul's School starting at 8:30 a.m. St. John's competed in the afternoon set of games with a 12:50 p.m. face-off against UMBC, followed by a 2:30 p.m. game against Mount St. Mary's.

The pair of games was the Red Storm's first look at its 2007-08 squad.

"I wasn't really interested in whether or not we won or lost and I really didn't care about the score. I wanted to see us play hard, and for the most part we did. We played a lot of bodies, we got our young guys a lot of reps," said Miller. "Overall I was pleased with our effort. We were competitive with two good lacrosse teams. We have a lot to look forward to."

In addition to the Red Storm's opponents, 2007 NCAA Tournament semi-finalist Delaware competed in the tournament, along with some of the best college lacrosse programs in the country such as North Carolina, Towson, Quinnipiac, Air Force, Penn State, Washington College, Villanova and B.Y.U.