John Jay Wolves celebrate Coach McDonough's 150th win

John Jay coach Jess McDonough gets a Gatorade bath from her team after recording her 150th career win with the program. JIM MACLEAN PHOTOS

Above, Finja Degl scores a goal for the Wolves in playoff victory over Tappan Zee.

Coco Inglis, at left, scored five goals to lead the Wolves.

By JIM MACLEAN

She tried to quietly walk away, but her team would not let her.

John Jay girls varsity lacrosse coach Jess McDonough has enjoyed a lot of success at the head of the program, but it’s never about her and always about her players on the field. The Wolves took care of business on the field, cruising to a 19-7 win over Tappan Zee to advance to the Section 1 Class C semifinals May 26, but the girls knew this was not just another victory for McDonough. Assistant coach Lauren McAulay made an announcement and the girls gave McDonough a Gatorade bath to celebrate her 150th career victory at John Jay.

“Apparently, my assistant coach says so, I had no idea, it’s just about the team and what the girls did, it’s all about them,” McDonough said about her milestone win. “They played a great game. We talked about peaking at the right time for the playoffs and they really showed it on both sides of the field. Especially in the middle 30, that was beautiful, the communication between the circle, everyone was really locked in today.”

An early lead

John Jay wasted no time setting the tone, jumping out to a 4-0 lead on its way to the victory, and it was an impressive performance across the field to get the job done. The Wolves entered the playoffs as the No. 4-seed hosting No. 5 Tappan Zee, but there was no way the girls would let this one slip away on their home field.

The roster is a young one for the Wolves with just one senior on the roster in captain Amelia Inglis. She admitted it was 

“A little bittersweet, definitely sad that it’s my last game playing on the contest field, such a great atmosphere,” admitted Amelia. “That was a great team win by us. We’ve had a couple of games this season where we got up and let up, so it was really big for us to keep pushing the gas. I’m really proud of what we did as a team today.”

Finja Degl scores a goal for the Wolves in playoff victory over Tappan Zee.

Her sister Coco Inglis certainly did her part, leading the Wolves with five goals as eight different girls scored goals and contributed on offense. And it actually started on defense as Riley McCaffrey made two big saves in goal before the Wolves were able to go down the other end of the field and take a 1-0 lead on a goal by Dillon Hall. The offense kept rolling from there, opening a 4-0 lead and closing out the first quarter with a 5-1 lead. It was up to 8-1 before Tappan Zee tried to rally with three-straight goals, but Erin Brennan scored for the Wolves off an assist from Amelia Inglis to close out the first half with a 9-4 lead.

The Wolves carried the momentum into the third quarter with four goals in a span of about one and a half minutes as Kait Condon dominated on the draws to control possession. Maye Vidders started it off with a goal at 9:56, and Coco Inglis scored off an assist from Vidders just 12 seconds later. Amelia Inglis then scored off an assist from Finja Degl at 9:30, and Coco scored again at the 8:25 mark to make it 13-4.

Tappan Zee falls short

Tappan Zee tried to rally once again scoring three goals to make it 14-7, but Finja Degl closed out the third quarter with a goal and opened the fourth with another to squash any thoughts of a comeback and the Wolves closed out the victory.

Coco Inglis scored five goals to lead the Wolves.

In addition to Coco Inglis scoring five goals, Vidders finished with three goals and had four assists for the Wolves. Degl had a hat trick as well, scoring three goals and adding two assists. Erin Brennan, Hall and Clara Bazaar each scored a pair of goals, Amelia Inglis scored a goal and had an assist, and Caitlin Brennan scored a goal for the Wolves.

John Jay will need another team effort as the Wolves advance to the semifinals on Friday, May 29, on the road against No. 1-seed Rye. The winner will advance to the championship game on June 2 at Nyack High School.