John Jay Takes easy First Round Victory versus Byram Hills

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On Friday May 23, John Jay hosted Byram Hills in the first round of the sectionals and the prospect of a typically easy opening for the powerhouse Wolves was in the air. The Bobcats did not initially oblige, though. They scored first and kept it close in a 4-2 first period. But reality soon set in.

John Jay scored the next nine goals and took an easy 13-3 victory.

First, Byram began with an easy save for Nava Berley. The goalie got the ball ahead, and the 10th seed set up. A shooting space whistle was blown, and Lila Vincequerra scored on the free shot.

At 9:29, Jojo Degl took the affront back to the circle. The senior lifted the ball to Jordan Kauftheil, and not long after, the sphere was back on the stick of Degl. 15 yards away, a duck under the defense forced a whistle, and the free shot goals were tied at one with 8:52 left in the first.

The Wolves didn’t wait long to take the lead either. Degl to Degl on the draw, and Coco Inglis joined the family on Finja’s lead in pass. Perfectly set up and all alone, Inglis gave her team the lead for good.

8:39 remaining in the first, Jojo Degl took care of business herself on the draw, and Inglis followed suit only 23 seconds later. She drew the penalty and scored on the free shot.

3-1, the whistles kept coming for John Jay. First for Degl, she hit the post, so Inglis showed her elder how it was done. After taking a head shot, the freshman fired away and gave the Wolves a 4-1 lead.

In at 5:16, Degl won another. But John Jay lost the whistle on the attack, and the ball went the other way. Byram’s last gasp it turned out, Sydney Hecht cruised upfield, and after dishing to a trailing Ava Gitler, the middie beat Molly Gallagher for a 4-2 game at 4:08.

Not for long, Degl danced with Kauftheil on the draw, and back to Degl, three was still company when Jojo added her sister. All alone in prime real estate, Finja Degl took her sister’s pass and easily found the back of the net to close the first quarter scoring.

Thanks to Gallagher, the senior goalie looked like a sitting duck when Keira Eckhardt came right out in front with the ball. No time to blink or shrink, Gallagher stood in with her stick and got the save.

Onto the second period, Degl wasn’t worried about the blot on her draw sheet, and once again got the ball to Kauftheil. Dishing off, the ball quickly came back and the senior went overhead for a 6-2 lead.

Only 18 seconds elapsing, John Jay gave the scoreboard a breather next. The teams trading turnovers accounted for the delay, but this time a pair of younger sisters got the crowd cheering. On the goal line, Dylan Kauftheil bided her time for Caitlin Brennan to make her cut, and extending for the reception, the younger Brennan put it past.

7-2 with 9:31 remaining in the half, the train kept rolling, and it was Degl squared again. Jojo scored on Micayla DeVeau’s shooting space assist at 8:01, and Finja Degl scored 50 seconds later on another penalty shot.

The play of the day still awaited, though, and looked like it came out of the school John Jay gym. Coco Inglis and Finja Degl played pick and roll, and the younger Degl connected for the easy layup at 1:57.

The bold faced print obviously on the wall, DeVeau’s goal at 5:37 of the second period put the clock on running time, and the countdown had the Wolves ready for the semis on Wednesday.