John Jay Boys Lacrosse Preview and Photos from Wilton Game

See photos at end

The last time we saw, the boys lacrosse team they led 9-8 lead over Yorktown with 90 seconds to go in the Section One Semifinals. The Wolves were unable to hold onto the lead and lost 10-9 in overtime. Ten months later, Coach Mike Bocklet only see positive residue from the pain.

“The loss has definitely motivated the guys who were on the team,” said the second year coach.

Among them are Charlie Burt, Sid Goldberg, Aidan McCarthy and Declan Whelan on Defense. A few spots are also available, and other returners will see expanded roles. So the success will hinge heavily on the meshing. “Defensively, it will be about coming together as a unit,” said Bocklet.

Bocklet also likes that there won’t be a head chef stirring the pot. “Not having one guy who is the big name player, I don’t think we need,” he said. “But it’s better having five or six guys at a time who can play together.”

Up the field, the Wolves have only lost one midfielder. The first line midfielders are Kyle Petschek, Chris DiChiara and Andrew Kiefer. The team will also be rotating in Jon Altneu, and Ben Gold is a senior who will have an upgraded role on the attack.

Sort of in between, Dom Savastano is the chameleon. “You’re going to see him all over the field this spring. Playing defense but also using a lot of the field offensively,” said Bocklet. “He’s got a great motor.”

Taking the primary lead pass, Craig Galea is a returning with his 6 feet 4 inch frame. “Committed to play football at Stony Brook, I’m getting excited for his senior year,” said the coach.

Of course, he not selling Luca Duva short. “A tremendous sophomore year,” said Bocklet, “he led the offense in points.”

Hopefully for more of the same, Bocklet aims to keep it simple. Smart but fast is the game plan and put up a lot of points, he asserted.

Finally in goal, the Wolves have Andrew Minard’s big shows to fill. “Blake O’Callaghan was the back up goalie last year and sophomore Dylan Geary started on JV last year,” said Bocklet. “We’re looking to them to motivate everyone,” he said.

That leaves the heights the team hopes to hit. “The ultimate goal is to win a sectional championship, but as a team, our goal is to improve throughout the season,” he concluded. "We want to make sure come playoffs that we are playing our best lacrosse.”

John Jay went on for a playoff type match up versus a tough Wilton team on Tuesday, April 4. Wilton jumped out to a 5-1 lead, and the Wolves could not catch up in an 11-6 loss.

Caleb Rath began the scoring. He took off from the 40, put a move on the Jay defense and rifled the ball past Blake O’Callaghan. Charlie Johnson scored next and Andre Wiest followed with a shot from midfield when Blake O’Callaghan was caught out of the goal.

Down 3-0, John Jay got on the board with a power play goal. Luca Duva got doubled teamed on the goal line, passed across to Craig Galea, and he dumped inside to Kyle Petschek. All alone, the midfielder fired underhand and got John Jay on the board at 5:10.

In response, David Sylvester got goal number four and five to gain the 5-1 lead to close the first. So John. Jay went to work by forcing a turnover after the lost draw. Luca Duva stepped up, and with the help of a juke behind the net, he got in front to make it a 5-2 game. Not done yet, he went off a great O’Callaghan save to make it a two game with 6:15 left in the half.

From there, the teams continued to trade goas,l and the back breaker came on the heals of Johnson's stick. He made it 9-5 and two more Wilton goals followed to make the 11-5 lead insurmountable.