COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. -- The St. John’s men’s lacrosse team is champing at the bit to get started with the 2019 season, and the Johnnies have crafted a 12-game regular season slate they hope will deliver them to the 2019 MCLA National Championships powered by Under Armour.

St. John's will kick off the upcoming campaign with Montana as the Grizzlies travel to Collegeville for an early test. The second half of the home-and-home set is planned for the spring of 2020 in Missoula.

The Johnnies then hit the road to meet Providence and CU Denver in Lincoln, Neb.

"We are thankful we could work with Nebraska to help host this weekend," said St. John's coach Derek Daehn. "The Argos gave us a battle in Denver in 2018 and we look forward to another tough test. CU Denver had a strong 2018 season. We have not ever played them so the game will provide a great challenge.”

The trip will wrap up with a contest against host Nebraska.

The Johnnies follow that trip with another home game Montana State.

"Coach Kelley runs a top notch program and we look forward to making a return trip in 2020," said Daehn. "It was great of Coach Kelley and [Montana's] Coach Sargent for making the trips to Minnesota. It seemed early on during the scheduling process that teams were avoiding the UMLC and we knew we could count on the two Montana programs to follow through on their commitments."

The Johnnies are back on the road in April to Allendale, Mich. to visit Grand Valley State's campus.

"Coach Murray was very gracious to host the weekend. It will be a fun weekend in Michigan, and we wish he would have offered this great venue sooner," said Daehn.

The Johnnies will face Dayton and GVSU on back-to-back days to determine the UMLC Division II East seeding in the conference tournament later in April.

“It's a big weekend for us. If we can play well, it will help set up a favorable schedule for the conference tournament," said assistant coach Adam Benney.

The Johnnies will cap off the weekend with a game against UMLC Division I Oakland.

The Johnnies are back in Minnesota for the remaining four games. They head to Duluth to play the Bulldogs before hosting defending national championship North Dakota State. A trip to St. Paul to face St. Thomas is followed by the season finale at home against Minnesota.

“We will know where we stand after our 2019 regular season schedule," Daehn said. "We hope we compete best throughout the season and know playing two games in one day or back-to-back conference opponents will challenge us physically and mentally. It should be a fun season.”

#GoJohnnies #JRYK #mcla19 pic.twitter.com/pOblBms4w6
— Saint John's Lacrosse (@SJULAX) November 13, 2018

2019 St. John's Men's Lacrosse Schedule

* - indicates UMLC East division contest
^ - indicates contest at Nebraska
# - indicates contest at Grand Valley State