JJHS girls soccer spoils party for Fox Lane senior night

Fox Lane goalie Dylan New makes a save on a penalty kick. JIM MACLEAN PHOTOS

By JIM MACLEAN 

Senior night is a special night for athletes and their families to share, no matter the final outcome of the game. For the Fox Lane varsity girls soccer team, senior night came on Tuesday, Oct. 13, when the Foxes hosted rival John Jay.

Both teams knew what to expect. John Jay is having a big year with just two losses as the Wolves are in the hunt for a league title and looking forward to the playoffs. Fox Lane is a young team with a lot of new faces and growing for the future. The Wolves had defeated the Foxes 8-0 just one week ago, but despite what the scoreboard said the Foxes would enjoy their senior night and keep smiling.

In the end, it was a 5-0 victory for John Jay, but that didn’t dampen the atmosphere as Fox Lane kept battling and smiling to the end.

That spirit was clear for Fox Lane when senior captain and goalkeeper Dylan New was able to make a diving save on a penalty kick.

“That was the first one I got all year,” New said of her penalty kick save. “We only have six returning players, but you can really see the growth from last year. We have been working so hard together and you can see our bond on the field.”

New has been a big part of that growth along with fellow senior co-captain Jillian Kurchack as the leaders of a young team. New only started playing soccer last year when the team needed a goalie and she gave it a try.

“Especially on senior night, that was so cool for her,” Fox Lane coach Christiaan Cacciotti said of the save. “We only have four seniors, basically everyone else is coming back, and they’re all really starting to come together. We played a good tight game against Greeley, only lost 1-0, and tonight we played well and we’re putting a lot more passes together.”

John Jay’s Mykel Papa celebrates with Maye Viders (10) after scoring a goal.

The rest of the highlights belonged to John Jay as the Wolves opened up a 3-0 lead in the first half. Abby Mattiello got the Wolves started with a goal off a through ball from Maye Viders. Three minutes later the roles were reversed as Mattiello took a corner kick and Viders scored to make it 2-0.

New then stopped the penalty kick, but the Wolves kept the pressure on. Three-straight corner kicks from Mattiello would yield another goal as Mattiello sent the kick into the box and Mykel Papa headed it in for the goal.

“It was an insane ball from Abby, perfectly placed and I just had to put it in,” Papa said of the goal. “We’ve been playing a lot of games and we’re really excited. This team is great and we all want to play for each other and we’re ready.”

In the second half, Viders scored her second of the game off an assist from Alex Milich, and then Sophya Papa scored for the Wolves to make the final score 5-0.

The win over Fox Lane capped off a busy week for John Jay as the Wolves scored a big 2-0 win over Somers on Oct. 9, as Viders scored both goals off assists from Milich and Mykel Papa.

“That was a really important game, Somers is always a big rivalry game for us,” Viders said. “We had five games in eight days, and the team has really come together well. We’re really excited and hopefully we can go far and win the section.”

The day before the Fox Lane game on Monday, John Jay hosted Mahopac and the Wolves suffered their second loss of the season. Coco Inglis scored for the Wolves, but it wasn’t enough as Mahopac pulled away for a 3-1 victory. After such a busy week, John Jay was able to use its depth and rotate players in against Fox Lane and get the win as the Wolves now stand at 8-2-2 overall.

“Four games in one week is a lot, and back-to-back games are always tough and we’ve got tired legs out there, so it was good that we could get the win and get the rotations in to ease the pressure,” John Jay coach Dave Nuttall said. “The Mahopac game was a little disappointing, we lacked discipline and we have to learn from it heading into the playoffs. There are a lot of good teams in our tournament and you have to come in with the right mentality that anything can happen, don’t take anyone for granted, stay disciplined and don’t panic.”