John Jay's offense topples North Rockland

John Jay’s Jack Casey celebrates after scoring a goal in win over North Rockland. JIM MACLEAN PHOTO

By JIM MACLEAN

The John Jay boys varsity lacrosse team was fired up, hoping for a big night as the Wolves hosted undefeated North Rockland on April 10.

It was close early on as John Jay held a 3-2 lead at the end of the first quarter, but the Wolves offense came alive and reeled off 11-straight goals in the second and third quarters in a dominating performance for a 14-3 victory.

That offensive explosion started with Jack Casey scoring the first two goals of the second quarter to open the floodgates for the Wolves. A converted long pole from defense, Casey teams up with James Tesi and Dash Stewart, a pair of returning starters on attack, and that trio was part of a balanced offense that was connecting all night long for the Wolves.

“Tesi and Dash do my job for me and I just have to finish, they’re great to work with on attack and we feel anyone on this offense can score goals on any given night,” Casey said of the offensive teamwork. “It felt great to make that connection tonight, we really wanted to prove what we can do on our home turf.”

With the win John Jay improved to 3-2 overall on the season, and this was the first game where the offense really came alive and started to put it all together.

Tesi led the way once again as he scored four goals. Casey had a hat trick finishing with three goals, all scored in the second quarter. Riley McMahon also had a hat trick for the Wolves with three goals. Dino Rajamani and Stewart each scored a pair of goals and added an assist. Porter Bysshe had an assist as he came up with a ground ball on defense and carried it across midfield to the goal and fed Tesi for his fourth goal of the game.

Goalie Blake O’Callaghan came up big in the first quarter and finished with nine saves overall in three quarters, while Oliver Browning came on in the fourth quarter to record three saves and close out the victory.

The defense was solid in front of the goal holding the Raiders in check 

“We came out here with a lot of energy, everyone was fired up, everyone played for each other and worked hard,” said O’Callaghan. “Offense was clicking and that takes a lot of pressure off us on defense, Jack Casey was a stud, he’s stepped into a role and has been great. The defense is really gaining confidence, working together as a unit, communication is on point, and I’m just really proud of the guys the way we’ve responded after those early season losses.”

It was a perfect response in the second and third quarters as the Wolves dominated. Rajamani closed out the first half with his first goal of the game, and he then started out the second half with his second goal. Stewart closed out the third quarter with his second goal, and the Wolves controlled possession to run out the clock without scoring in the fourth quarter.

A good team victory under the lights for John Jay as the Wolves made it two in a row on the home turf.

“A Friday night game at home early in the season, we had a lot of momentum going early and it was a good game,” explained John Jay coach Mike Bocklet. “A few different goal scorers, getting the ball into different hands, moving it well and that’s always good to see. We have some aggressive poles and we put them in the middle of the field to let them make plays and they did a good job. Porter Bysshe, Nick Harris, Cody Jones, they caused a lot of havoc. Blake doing Blake things in goal and the defense played well, all around a good game.”

John Jay had a pair of tough tests ahead as the Wolves were set to host rival Rye on Thursday, April 16, and then travel to face rival Yorktown on Tuesday, April 21.