John Jay field hockey offense connects for big win

Callan Keeley makes her move to the goal for John Jay. Logan Bueti fires a shot for the Wolves against Somers. Sophia Shaw lifts a shot for a goal on a break away. Caitlin Brennan celebrates after John Jay scored off a corner play. Jim MacLean Photos

By JI MACLEAN 

John Jay senior Logan Bueti has seen a lot as a member of the varsity field hockey program. As a four-year varsity player, she has been there for a lot of big wins and a couple of tough losses, and she knows that the senior game is always a highlight of the season.

She helped make her own senior day game a happy memory as she scored a goal and assisted on three others to help lead John Jay to a 6-0 victory over Somers on Saturday, Oct. 11. It was an impressive performance from start to finish as John Jay celebrated with the home crowd to honor its four seniors on the roster including Bueti, senior captains Laney Daly and Helena Schembri, and Julia Verrone.

“Definitely very sentimental, always a fun game, it’s just fun being out there with my teammates playing this game together,” Bueti said. “Coach has been telling us to keep it simple and that was just us connecting, doing what we practiced. The last couple of games were more intense and we rose to the occasion, we’re coming together more as a team.”

Junior captain Callan Keeley led the way as she scored three goals for the hat trick and also had an assist. She combined with Bueti to control the action, keeping the ball in the Somers end of the field. John Jay had one opportunity after another, with Bueti connecting on a pass to Sophia Shaw on a breakaway for another goal, and Finja Degl scoring off a corner play on a pass sent in by Caitlin Brennan. The ball movement was so good that John Jay goalie McKenzie Ryder needed to make just one save to record the shut out. With Daly, Brennan and the defense moving it up to Schembri, Degl and the midfielders, up to Keeley and Bueti and the forwards, John Jay put on a passing clinic from one end of the field to the other.

“The way the ball moved today on the angle, they could only do that if they stay calm and look up, and they played a beautiful game,” John Jay coach Debbi Walsh said of her team. “We’ve been working hard on our passing and I give them credit. Callan and Logan, the two of them found each other a lot and that’s what we’ve been working on.”

Walsh also praised her four seniors for setting the tone as the Wolves have come on strong. Daly has been an anchor on defense as a three-year starter, but she didn’t start her field hockey career until her sophomore season to join her big sister, a common theme for members of the field hockey program. Senior captain Schembri is a big sister in the program with her younger sister Lorelei as a ninth-grader on varsity this year.

“I have four seniors and they’re all here for different reasons and they are all leaders,” Walsh said. “They’re a family, they’re all friends and we’re growing and they’re all contributing.”

With the win over Somers, John Jay improved to 9-3 overall on the season with three games left on the regular season schedule, including a big game on the road at Yorktown on Thursday, Oct. 16. The Wolves were coming off a pair of tough overtime losses to powerhouses Lakeland and Rye, but Walsh feels those two losses helped her team gain confidence that they can compete with the best in the upcoming Section 1 Class B tournament.

“Two games, two days, both overtime losses, a lot to ask of the girls and they competed,” Walsh said of the losses to Rye and Lakeland. “The top four or five teams in Class B are stacked, and those two games helped us to build confidence. Any given day any of those teams can beat each other, and we’ll see how we stack up.”