Sweet revenge for John Jay field hockey in playoff victory over Rye

John Jay’s Kaitlyn Condon (18), Erin Brennan, and Caitlin Brennan (24) rush to celebrate with goalie McKenzie Ryder after their playoff victory over Rye. JIM MACLEAN PHOTOS

By JIM MACLEAN 

From the opening whistle, you could tell the John Jay field hockey team was on a mission and fired up for the Wolves’ Section 1 Class B playoff quarterfinal game against Rye.

John Jay has 12 seniors on the roster, and they all remember a season-ending loss last fall in the playoffs at Rye, so the No. 2 seed Wolves were ready when they hosted No. 7 seed Rye on Oct. 27. 

John Jay wasted no time, moving the ball up the field into the circle to gain a corner opportunity, and senior defender Kaitlyn Condon corralled a loose ball and fired it into the goal for a quick 1-0 lead. The Wolves kept up the pressure and dominated the first half, building a 3-0 lead on their way to a 4-1 victory to advance to the semifinals.

“Right out of the gate we set the tone, we talked about it and we went out there on full fire, I got the ball and just let it fly,” Condon said of her opening goal. “Rye ended our season last year in the playoffs, so we were coming back with a little vengeance and we were ready.”

Senior captain Callan Keeley then made it 2-0 when she carried along the end line into the circle and beat the goalie early in the second quarter.

Three minutes later, it was 3-0 as senior Finja Degl took a corner and sent it to senior Caitlin Brennan, who fired a long shot into the goal for the Wolves. Brennan and all the seniors admit that the memory of last year losing in double overtime to Rye was fresh in their minds throughout the game.

Sophia Shaw battles for a loose ball in quarterfinal victory.

“Finja sent a great insert out to me, perfectly flat, easy to set up and I took the shot and it found the back of the cage,” Brennan said of her goal. “Huge game for us, we talked before the game about last year, that feeling is still there, to lose in double overtime in a monsoon, playing for two hours at Rye, that lit a fire for us today.”

Rye tried to stage a comeback in the second half, as the Garnets scored to make it 3-1, but the John Jay seniors were not going to let this game get away from them.

Next up it was senior Sophia Shaw scoring a goal early in the fourth quarter off an assist from Keeley to make the final score 4-1.

“Offense is working really well together, this team has evolved so much since the beginning of the season,” explained Shaw. “We’re all connecting and to have multiple scorers is great and shows how hard we are working together as a team. This is such a great team to be a part of and we’re so excited and don’t want the season to end.”

Four goals, four different goal scorers for the Wolves as the offense has come on strong after a slow start to the season.

The defense then shut the door to close out the win with goalie McKenzie Ryder leading the way with Condon, Sarah Swiderski, Gemma DelRosso and the Brennan sisters Caitlin and Erin in front of her.

It adds up to a veteran team on a roll as the Wolves move on to the semifinals, but they know what lies ahead as John Jay was set to host perennial powerhouse Lakeland in the semifinals on Thursday.

“To have four different goal scorers, all seniors, and two of them are defenders, that shows how they are playing, they all want to make something happen and they want it bad,” John Jay coach Debbi Walsh said. “We came out flying. This game was by far the most energy I’ve seen them give all at the same time, and they’ll have to step it up even more for the next one. This is what happens when you have 12 seniors who are not ready to stop playing together.”