When they talk about Yorktown’s 13-10 win Friday night over John Jay years from now, most folks will start with two words.
John Ranagan.
The Johns Hopkins-bound senior midfielder had one of those games that will forever will etched in the memories of those who witnessed it.
Ranagan had five goals and two assists, but that was the least of it. He put on a prototypical display of what two-way midfield play can — and should be — all about.
When Yorktown needed a big faceoff, he won it.
When it needed a big groundball, he got it.
When a good, clean hard hit was required, he took care of that too.
Simply stated, Ranagan turned in as dominant a performance in as many different areas of the game as you will see.
And for those that did, it was unforgettable.
“They did a pretty good job on Kevin,” Ranagan said of teammate and fellow Hopkins recruit Kevin Interlicchio, who was held to two goals and one assist. “I thought we did a good job making up for that by winning faceoffs and scoring in transition.”
While Ranagan’s effort was impressive, the ‘Huskers could not have picked up by their second straight win over the Indians without some other key contributors.
Jim Ranagan, Yorktown
File Photo By Jim Stout
Among them:
• Junior attackman Remy Lieberman, who scored a career-high four goals.
• Senior attackman Tom Casey, who had two goals and three assists.
• Sophomore standout Ty Schult, who dished out three assists.
John Jay, meanwhile, had an outstanding game plan and executed it to near perfection. That’s rare for a team comprised mainly of underclassmen.
Defensively, the Indians ran the lax equivalent of a basketball box-and-one with Geneseo-bound senior Jeff Dunworth on Interlicchio.
Williams-bound senior midfielder Will Stewart of John Jay, meanwhile, turned in a superb effort with four goals, an achievement that will certainly look good on his all-America résumé.
John Jay, which led 4-3 after the first quarter, built a 5-3 second-quarter lead.
But Yorktown was able to get its lethal fastbreak offense going in the second quarter — outscoring John Jay 4-1.
It was a rare game in which both teams could walk away with plenty of positives.
Yorktown wrapped up another unbeaten season vs. Section 1 teams.
John Jay turned in an outstanding effort against the No. 2-ranked team in the LaxLessons.com Top 25 regional rankings.
It was what great rivalry games should be all about.
Ridgefield edges Darien
Roy Colsey didn’t sleep well last Tuesday night.
His baby son made sure of that. Not that it mattered anyway.
“I wasn’t going to get much sleep last night no matter what,” he said.
After all, today was the day Ridgefield had marked on its calendar for weeks — make that months. Maybe even years.
And Wednesday night, Ridgefield’s first-year coach and his Tigers picked up another first —their first against Darien since 1984.
Virginia-bound senior star Matt White scored with 47 seconds remaining to give the Tigers an 8-7 win.
The play started after a Darien shot on goal hit the post. White took the ball upfield, dodging his way into the restraining box.
“I had a few short sticks on me, but I was able to get by them, and then I was a little gassed, but you gotta do what you gotta do for your teammates,” said White, who had two goals and three assists.
He wound up creating what proved to be the winning score off a brilliant one-on-one effort that made Colsey, a former star midfielder at Yorktown at Syracuse known for creating offensive opportunities, proud.
Darien, which ran a deliberate ball-control offense that effectively kept the ball away from Ridgefield’s high-octane offense, took a 7-5 lead with 5:43 remaining on John Bolton’s third goal of the game.
But the Tigers battled back and tied it on Fairfield University-bound Brendan Walsh’s fourth goal of the game with 1:35 remaining.
Despite getting little sleep, Colsey had plenty of energy during the day for another task he deemed important — namely reminding his players of the importance of this game.
“Starting at 7:30, I texted all the seniors scores,” Colsey said.
Scores of what?
"Of all the scores between Ridgefield and Darien, starting in 1999 when it was 24-0 Darien," Colsey said.
Said White: “I got like 10 texts from Coach Colsey.”
As big a win as it was, Colsey and the Tigers know they almost unquestionably will be facing the four-time state champion Blue Wave again — probably June 2 in the FCIAC final at Brien McMahon at 7:30 p.m.
“We know we’re probably going to play them again, but before we get to that point, we had to break this barrier,” Colsey said. “And it feels great.”
Building a new tradition at Cheshire
Cheshire has churned out 106 players who went on to the college level since the program launched in 1983. The Rams should have plenty more on the way. But there’s one problem. Most of them are juniors. All told, Cheshire has 19 of them. Despite the dearth of seniors, Cheshire ended last week’s action at 10-3.
“The thing I’m most proud of is the fact they’re also good students,” coach Rich Pulisciano said.
One of them, Todd Heritage, who scored four goals in a 15-9 loss at Somers (N.Y.), sports a 4.0 grade-point average.
Joe Lombardi, who has been a fixture on the lacrosse scene during the sport’s rapid growth in the New York metropolitan area, produces editorial and video content for LaxLessons.com. He may be reached at joe@laxlessons.com.
