John Jay bounces back with a 6-0 win over Fox Lane

Clockwise from top, Leilani Forni of Fox Lane defends against John Jay’s Briar Cindrich. John Jay’s Callan Keeley and Fox Lane’s Katie Berisha reach for a loose ball. Finja Degl of John Jay takes a corner. Greg Kaplowitz photos

By JIM MACLEAN 

It was a wake up call, and the John Jay field hockey team needed to respond.

After falling to rival Horace Greeley by a score of 6-0, John Jay squared off against rival Fox Lane and the Wolves bounced back with a 6-0 win over the Foxes. The Wolves then pounced on Pearl River by a 10-0 score to improve to 3-1 overall on the season.

“Sometimes it is a wake up call, something that opens your eyes, not just sugar coating it to see where you are as a team, that was more about mental preparedness and coming ready to play and being mentally strong,” explained John Jay coach Debbi Walsh. “Greeley came out and played a beautiful game, and now we have five games in a row after that where we should be working on ourselves. That game showed us a lot, and we’re starting a new game and we set the bar here.”

Unfortunately for Fox Lane, John Jay’s next game after the loss to Greeley would be against the Foxes. The Foxes are rebuilding after graduating almost all of the starting lineup last year and with a new coach at the helm with Sofi Southam. It was a tall task taking on a rival like John Jay on the road as the Wolves were fired up to bounce back.

At home on Sept. 10, John Jay responded with a 6-0 win of its own with a balanced attack as four different girls scored a goal. Logan Bueti and Finja Degl led the way as they each scored two goals. Callan Keeley and Harper Christian each scored a goal and added an assist, and Anna Kringas had an assist for the Wolves.

Fox Lane goalie Alyssa Cambareri was busy as she recorded 13 saves in goal for the Foxes. John Jay goalie McKenzie Ryder was credited with two saves.

Walsh runs the Katonah-Bedford youth program that feeds both John Jay and Fox Lane with Southam joining her this summer as a coach, so she knows a lot of girls on both teams.

“Fox Lane graduated a lot of talented players, I have a personal connection with that program and a lot of athletes on both teams,” admitted Walsh. “Fox Lane is struggling with numbers, they have a great new coach with Sofi, but she needs players. If you’re not in a hurry you can build a program, but it’s not going to happen overnight. After the game, Sofi was happy to see her girls having fun together, the high school experience is more than just wins and losses, and she has a young team and a bright future with that program.”

John Jay then traveled to Pearl River on Sept. 15, and the Wolves dominated for a 10-0 victory, but Walsh was concerned about another slow start with the score 0-0 after the first quarter.

“We’re struggling being productive in the first quarter and not ready when the buzzer sounds,” Walsh said of the slow start. “We have to know how to bring it. The skills are there, but the mental preparation has to be a focus during pregame. The better teams will take advantage of that and make you pay.”

Keeley had a big game against Pearl River leading the Wolves with four goals and an assist. Bueti also had a hat trick finishing with three goals. Sophie Shaw scored a goal and had three assists. Degl scored a goal and had an assist. Helena Schembri also scored a goal for the Wolves, and Cindrich had an assist.

In the loss to Greeley, the bright spot was the play of John Jay goalie McKenzie Ryder as she finished with a big 26 saves facing a constant barrage from the Quakers.

“She had 26 saves, you can’t ask anymore of your goalie, she held up very strong against them,” added Walsh. “Logan Bueti has been stepping up big time with five goals the last two games. Her senior year and she’s playing her best. Fin (Degl) has been holding down the middle, and our defense has been solid. When you score 10 goals and have five girls scoring you have a team working together and that’s what we will need to be successful.”