Wolves celebrate spirited victory in womens' lacrosse

John Jay’s Coco Inglis (15) celebrates after scoring a goal with Dillon Hall (left) and Maye Vidders. JIM MACLEAN PHOTOS

By JIM MACLEAN 

It was the first varsity game of the day on the turf for Jay Fest, and the John Jay girls varsity lacrosse team was fired up.

John Jay entered the game struggling, and the Wolves knew it would not be easy facing a tough Bronxville team, but this was Jay Fest and they were determined to win. Jay Fest is the big day of the year with games running all day long on every field for the John Jay athletic program and school spirit runs strong with every team cheering each other on. That spirit fired up the John Jay girls and they responded by playing their best game of the season to date.

The Wolves exploded in the third quarter and dominated the second half to pull away for an 11-6 victory. They needed it as the Wolves had struggled through a rough stretch with one win and five losses, as the team improved to 7-5 overall.

'Best day of the year'

“Oh my gosh, it’s Jay Fest, John Jay spirit, the best day of the year,” admitted junior Finja Degl. “Bronxville is such a good team and to win that type of game means so much to us. We were angry, we’ve been on a low and knew we could play better and this game really shows what we are capable of.”

Degl helped get the rally going and she was determined to finish it off. It was a battle in the first half as Amelia Inglis scored to give the Wolves a 2-1 lead at the end of the first quarter.

John Jay appeared to take control early in the second quarter as Maye Vidders scored to make it 4-2 and Degl followed with a goal off an assist from Vidders to make it 5-2.

Maye Vidders races to the goal.

However, Bronxville answered with a pair of goals to cut the lead down to one at 5-4, and the Broncos had a chance to tie it up in the final seconds, but John Jay goalie Riley McCaffrey made a big save to close out the half.

The teams traded goals to start the second half, and then Degl scored a goal off an assist from Erin Brennan to give John Jay a 7-5 lead and the Wolves never looked back.

Coco Inglis scored in the final minute of the third quarter to make it 8-5. That same trio kept up the pressure on attack in the fourth quarter as Degl scored to make it 9-5, then Coco Inglis scored again followed by another goal from Vidders and the Wolves were able to close out an impressive 11-6 victory.

Big saves

While Degl, Vidders and Inglis led the way on the score sheet, it was a strong effort up and down the field that made the difference for the Wolves. McCaffrey came up with a lot of big saves in goal, and Kaitlyn Condon dominated on the draws to help the Wolves control possession.

“That was a great win for us,” admitted John Jay coach Jess McDonough. “They’ve been working really hard, we’ve had some hiccups, but kudos to the girls, the whole team, everybody was locked in at practice this week pushing each other. Today was really great for them to see the team that we always knew they could be, both ends of the ball, showing up to play the way we knew they could play.”

John Jay also scored a 15-8 victory on the road at North Rockland last week on April 30, as the Wolves have won two in a row. The Wolves hope to keep it going this week with a home game on Tuesday, May 12, against Briarcliff.