John Jay’s Jake Loeb is pressured by Fox Lane’s Matt Leader during their game at Fox Lane April 25, 2016. John Jay won 12-11.
John Jay’s Jackson Rieger is pressured by Fox Lane’s Will Purcell during their game at Fox Lane April 25, 2016. John Jay won 12-11.
John Jay’s Jack Marschke is pressured by Fox Lane’s Jack Gorman during their game at Fox Lane April 25, 2016. John Jay won 12-11.
BEDFORD – There probably isn’t a team in Section 1 capable of stopping a high-powered Fox Lane offense, but John Jay was able to make the Foxes think for several minutes with a well-executed zone defense.
And that was enough.
The Indians watched a sizable lead melt away down the stretch, but scrambled and held on in the last four minutes of a 12-11 win.
“We knew it was going to be a crazy,” said Josh Rubin, who gave John Jay a five-goal advantage in the final minutes of the third quarter. They’re offense is really good. Our offense is really good. Both defenses have struggled at times. There was a little back and forth at the end, and it got scary for a minute there, but we closed it out, found a way.”
Exhale.
The Indians were fidgety at the start, but settled in and exacted a measure of revenge after losing here last spring.
“A lot of the guys know each other, so it’s personal, too,” John Jay defenseman Jack Marschke said.
The Foxes (8-2) came out firing, but had some issues handling the ball.
“We were up 4-1, but we turned the ball over seven times on the offensive end (in the first quarter) and you’re not going to win doing that,” Fox Lane coach Chris Coughlin said. “The second and third quarters they killed us on ground balls. Faceoffs, we got better as the game went on, but they destroyed us in the middle portion of the game.”
Exactly.
Marschke began winning faceoffs and the Indians picked up nearly every ball that touched the turf. In a matter of two minutes, Gus Carlson, Bryce Ford and Rubin made it a 4-4 game.
The Indians (7-3) were up 6-5 at the half.
“I’ve been playing against Cullen Morgan for a while,” Marschke said. “I know what he’s got. Cullen is a very good player and God knows he’s destroyed me on faceoffs in the past. I just had a good day. Once you get it going, you just have to keep it going.”
They did exactly that.
John Jay opened the second half with four more goals before Matt Magnan cranked in a response with 3:37 to go in the third quarter to make it a 10-6 lead.
The zone made it very difficult to sustain a run.
It was a 12-10 deficit after Magnan pinballed inside for a goal and Matt Leader scored with 4:29 to go to make it a one-possession game. Both teams made mistakes in the final minutes, but the Indians hung onto the ball just long enough to prevent overtime.
Power rankings: Lakeland/Panas continues to win, continues to climb
Player of the game: Marschke. He gave John Jay momentum winning 13 of 15 faceoffs in the second and third quarter.
Turning point: Fox Lane got within 11-9 with 9:32 to play and was all riled up, but Marschke won the next faceoff and Dean Ford scored off a Matt Lupinacci setup with 8:10 remaining. He won the one after that, as well, letting the Indians run a little more clock.
Stat line: Rubin led John Jay with four goals and freshman midfielder Bryce Ford had a career-best three goals and one assist. … Colin Smith made 16 saves for the Foxes while Magnan and Matt Leader each scored five goals. Thomas Tenney and Cullen Morgan each had two assists.
Quotable: “You’re kind of nervous as a freshman, stepping into big shoes, but in the second half, the coaches put a lot of faith in me,” Bryce Ford said. “It’s lacrosse and I’ve loved it since I was little, so I kept my cool and it paid off.”
Twitter: @lohudlacrosse
