Girls lacrosse: Nolan with 10 points, Brennan has 5 goals as John Jay-CR beats Suffern
CROSS RIVER — With 4:18 to play in Tuesday’s game between the John Jay-Cross River and Suffern girls lacrosse teams, what Shannon Nolan did could have seemed, on one level, like old hat.
After all, the John Jay-CR senior already had four assists when she picked up another.
But this wasn’t just any assist.
It was of the, “Did-I-just-see-that?" variety.
Nolan rifled a perfect feed past perhaps as many five Suffern defensive sticks to Annie Brennan’s stick.
That was Brennan’s sixth goal of the game.
And it gave Nolan 10 points for the game.
It also gave the Wolves an insurmountable 16-9 lead in a game that would end with them on top 17-10.
What it means
With the win, John Jay-CR, the defending Section 1 Class B champion, is 6-1 on the season, its only loss being to Ridgefield (Connecticut), a non-Section 1 team.
While the season is young, the win over last year’s Section 1 Class A squad – a team that beat it last year by one goal — seems to be a confirmation of sorts the Wolves, ranked No. 1 in the latest Journal News/lohud poll, certainly deserve that top spot.
Player of the game
The Lehigh-bound Nolan, one of several Wolves celebrating their Senior Game, earned the top player nod with her well-timed feeds (many from behind the net) and for scoring five times herself.
She also beat the Mounties to two loose balls and caused them to turn the ball over once.
By the numbers
Included among Nolan’s goals was one early in the second half. That helped swing the momentum back to the Wolves, who built an 8-2 lead early in the game but were only leading 9-7 at the half. Suffern had made a run following a time out and after revamping things with Nevin Sullivan dominating taking the draw.
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But Mia Puccio won the race to two balls off the draw and JoJo Degl won another to start the first half as John Jay went on a 5-0 scoring run.
Degl made it a 14-7 game, scoring off a beautiful, long feed from Nolan with 14:45 left in the second half.
That was part of a big game for Degl. She had a hat trick, won 10 draws (many with her taking the draw and getting the ball herself) and beat Suffern to six loose balls.
Nicole DiNapoli, Amelia Ingles and Puccio also scored for the Wolves.
Fin Degl had an assist.
Brennan, who won five draws, forced the Mounties into four of their 11 turnovers.
Quinn McCarren and Michaela Fay had hat tricks for Suffern and Maddy Leale, Jessica Schelling, Molly Mitchell and Sullivan had solo tallies for Suffern.
Charlotte Ullman had an assist.
Jillian Terlizzi was credited with seven saves. Some were off 8-meter free shots or in other one-on-one situations.
Wolf keeper Molly Gallagher, who seemed to get stronger as the game progressed, also had seven saves.
They said it
Suffern coach John Callahan , whose team is now 2-3, indicated there was an easy explanation for the loss: "Too many turnovers," he said.
Nolan acknowledge growing nervous during Suffern's first-half comeback but said at the half it was clear where the problem lay.
"We knew we were not playing to our full potential -- not playing a full 25 minutes," she said, noting players pumped each other up before going out for the second half.
Nolan indicated she likes where her team is right now.
"I think a lot of underclassmen are stepping up and upperclassmen are showing leadership," she said.
Up next
Neither team is scheduled to play again until next week.
John Jay-CR is scheduled to visit John Jay-East Fishkill next Wednesday and Suffern is scheduled to play at Rye next Thursday.
Nancy Haggerty covers cross-country, track & field, field hockey, skiing, ice hockey, basketball, girls lacrosse and other sporting events for The Journal News/lohud. Follow her on Twitter at @HaggertyNancy.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Girls lacrosse: Nolan has 10 points to lead John Jay-CR over Suffern
