St. John's Music City Bound

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. -- After splitting the first two UMLC matchups of the year, No. 7 Saint John's will take a break from conference play and travel to Nashville, Tenn., to meet No. 5 Grand Valley State and No. 12 Florida Gulf Coast.

The Johnnies dropped two spots in the rankings after falling to Minn.-Duluth, 11-7. The Bulldogs took an early 4-0 lead in the first quarter which ended up being the difference in the game despite a fourth-quarter surge by the Johnnies.

The next challenge for Saint John's will be CCLA rival Grand Valley State on Saturday, March 5 at 1:30 p.m. The Johnnies and Lakers have squared-off six of the last seven years, including two games in both 2013 and 2014. In those eight games, the Johnnies hold a commanding 6-2 record. In 2015, the Johnnies won convincingly 18-11. Saint John's coach Derek Daehn deemed the performance to be “our most complete game all year.”

The Johnnies will need a similar performance to top the Lakers again this year.

Saint John's will have to quickly focus its attention to another tough opponent in Florida Gulf Coast. The two teams will faceoff Sunday, March 6 at 8:30 a.m.

This will be the second consecutive year the Johnnies meet the Eagles, with last year’s victory going to Florida Gulf Coast, 9-8 in an overtime thriller. There's no question the Eagles will be in midseason form, as it will be their seventh game of the season.

The Johnnies will be looking to pick up two victories in Nashville before returning to UMLC play against St. Cloud State on March 15.