Girls lacrosse: Queensbury comes back quickly from 5 goals down to beat John Jay-CR 18-13
MONTROSE — When, with 1:57 left in the first half, John Jay-Cross River opted to shoot and not stall and play for the last shot against Queensbury in their Class B girls lacrosse regional final Saturday, it seemed liked a great idea.
After all, Caroline Panzirer buried a shot off a high, perfect pass from Shannon Nolan to score the Wolves' sixth straight unanswered goal to put them up 11-6.
But that lead lasted a blink.
Winning draw after draw, the Spartans scored four goals in a minute and 14 seconds to trail only 11-10 at the half.
And from there it was almost all Queensbury as the undefeated Section 2 champs went on to win 18-13.
What it means
The loss ended John Jay-CR's season. The Wolves finished 16-4.
Queensbury, which has won four straight Section 2 titles and is 16-0 on the season, will play in the Class B state semifinals Friday at SUNY-Cortland.
Player of the game
Blessed with rabbit quickness and a laser shot from multiple angles, Queensbury's Brigid Duffy, who'll play both lacrosse and soccer next year for West Point, scored seven times, had an assist and won the race to multiple loose balls to take top game honors.
Her goals brought her to 87 on the season and her assist to 41.
Included among her goals vs. John Jay was one off a rebound. She had fed Kady Duffy, whose shot was stopped by Wolf keeper Aidan Summer. But the ball caromed right to Brigid Duffy, who didn't miss the net in putting Queensbury up 15-12 with 15:22 left.
By the numbers
Delaney Donahue scored five times for Queensbury, which beat John Jay to 18 ground balls.
Meredith Montgomery and Kaitlyn Barton both scored twice and Kendra Ballard and Kady Duffy each scored once.
Donahue, Montgomery, Kady Duffy and Ballard each had an assist.
Annabel Brennan, Panzirer and Nolan all had hat tricks for John Jay.
Kate Mercer scored twice and Mia Puccio (who secured multiple loose balls in the first half) and Jojo Degl had one goal each.
Nolan had a strong game, feathering perfect passes, sometimes right past multiple defenders, for Wolf scores. She finished with five assists, most coming from a place that is her quasi office, the space right behind the right goal post.
Puccio had two assists and Georgia Wilmoth, Degl and Brennan each had one assist.
Summer had nine saves, including a couple of nice stops on Brigid Duffy.
Lindsay Bauer had five saves for Queensbury.
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Quotables
"Once they started to get momentum, we were unable to slow them and turn it around," said Panzirer, who'll play next year for Colgate.
She said her team knew at the half that it had to "come out firing" but Queensbury seemed to have more energy.
Panzirer said she couldn't put into words what playing for John Jay had been like but concluded, "I just don't want it to end."
Mercer, whose next stop is the University of Delaware women's lacrosse team, said she was "super proud" of her team, which had fought to the end.
She said her teammates had inspired her to work harder and had kept her motivated to play and that would carry forward.
"I can't wait to play the sport I love next year," she said.
Nancy Haggerty covers cross-country, track & field, field hockey, skiing, ice hockey, girls lacrosse and other sporting events for The Journal News/lohud. Follow her on Twitter at both @HaggertyNancy and at @LoHudHockey.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Girls lacrosse: Queensbury beats John Jay-CR 18-13 in Class B regional
