John Jay field hockey rocks Rye in playoff rematch

CROSS RIVER, N.Y. - On Tuesday, Oct. 27, John Jay opened the sectionals with a rematch against Rye. After earning a 2-1 overtime victory in their previous meeting, the Wolves got right to work, and Kaitlyn Condon did the initial honors by playing the pads.

“You get up right in front of the goalie,” said the senior, and the result was definitely too close for comfort.

She scored 100 seconds in, and Jay went on to a relatively easy 4-1 win.

The sequence began with a penalty corner and Cait Brennan striking fear.

“Opponents should be scared,” assured Condon, and another of Brennan’s patented blasts set up a fray in front.

Condon, in the midst of it, waited.

“Fin Degl passed it out to me, I took a second, I pulled and let it fly,” she said.

With the first goal in, Jay kept pressuring, and Callan Keeley got her first chance to show her stuff. She stole the ball on the sideline and then played give-and-go with Condon.

A penalty corner resulted at the eight-minute mark, and the Wolves put a couple of tough shots on the pads of Rye goalie Tessa Zicari.

Of course, she had more work to do, and Keeley made sure Zicari properly filled out her time sheet.

First, Harper Christian controlled the ball on the sideline at 2:44, hit Degl in stride, and she perfectly led Keeley into open space on the right. With the defense drawn, Keeley crossed the crease, but the ball bounced over the stick of Sophia Shaw.

The momentum didn’t carry into the second period, though. As if Rye had finally gotten off the bus, the Garnets suddenly sustained an offensive threat.

So John Jay responded.

“We worked our diamond backwards,” said Brennan, and the offense took it from there.

On a free shot from Christian, Shaw received the ball on the left and immediately touched a pass to Keeley in the middle. She was left unfazed by all the Garnets in proximity. Not relenting, the senior stood her ground and pushed the ball over the goal line at 4:32.

The game shifted, Jay stayed in the area, and a penalty corner at 1:31 was about to send another chill.

With Keeley doing the damage to force the whistle, Brennan lined up and didn’t hold back. She wound up and blasted a projectile past Zicari with 1:02 left in the half.

Up 3-0, Jay was 30 minutes away from victory. But Rye wasn’t letting the Wolves off the hook so easily.

On a mishit free shot by Brennan, Olivia Prada got the pick, drifted right to the goal line and sent a pass across the crease. There, Kaitlyn Coyne handled the bounce and directed the tip-in at 8:52.

Even so, the Wolves continued to pressure the Rye zone, and their offense amounted to all the defense Jay needed.

That is, until Shaw took it to the next level.

On a Rye free shot, the ball was touched before the launch, and Shaw intervened in the interim. Stealing the ball away, Shaw teamed up with Keeley.

“I pushed to Callan, she powered through, and we just kept pushing,” said Shaw.

The ball eventually came back, and Shaw wristed one past the goalie.

The commanding 4-1 lead with three minutes to go didn’t slow the team’s mindset, though.

“We never take our foot off the gas,” said Shaw.

Of course, Rye ran out of time, and even though a loss to Lakeland is behind them, the Hornets will be facing a different team, according to Shaw.

“Getting better together,” she concluded. “This team has a desire that is unmatched, and we’re so excited to play Lakeland.”