Lang stars for John Jay

Not including tryouts for the Empire State Games, the last time John Jay sophomore Sarah Lang had played field hockey was last year in the fall. 

Judging by her play against Pawling Thursday evening in the Indians' Hudson Valley Summer Field Hockey League contest against Pawling, that seems hard to believe.

That's because Lang just simply was a dominant force. Lang scored four goals, three of them coming in the second half, igniting John Jay to a 4-0 triumph at Putnam Valley High School.

"I haven't played field hockey in so long and I was so motivated because I haven't played in such a long time," Lang said. "Actually, I did go to the Empire tryouts and being with those experienced girls I learned so much and I brought what I learned there to this."

John Jay coach Amanda Antenucci felt there were numerous factors that contributed to Lang's breakout game.

"She is a sophomore this year so last year was a good growth year for her," Antenucci said. "So now her stick skills are a little bit more smooth, her speed is up and her strength is up. It's a combination of everything."

Lang's first goal was assisted by Emily Shallo. Her second goal, which started the scoring in the second half, came with an assist by Jessica Ott.

Lang finished the game with two unassisted goals.

However, Lang felt that the teamwork that was involved in her goals assisted by Shallo and Ott must be replicated throughout the summer and the fall season if John Jay is going to be successful.

"I think the chemistry is extremely important because field hockey is such a team sport," Lang said. "I think that every single aspect of the game leads up to one another so the chemistry is really important. If you don't have your teammates you don't have anything."

Fortunately the John Jay players realize how important it is to work together with one another.

"I think we had pretty good communication, spacing out and we have a lot of camaraderie on our team," Antenucci said. "Having all those things helped us with our performance tonight."

Lang is very confident that the teamwork John Jay displayed against Pawling is going to continue.

"I think John Jay as a school we really have such a strong program," Lang said. "We really believe in team sports. I think everybody's head is in the right place to incorporate everybody in the game."

Getting a chance to play the game of field hockey in the summer is something that Antenucci feels is very important.

"It's a great league for the girls to play together, to play against other teams at all different levels," Antenucci said. "It's great to get that playing experience before we play in the fall."

Besides having a great game offensively, John Jay was also solid defensively with goalies Dayna Mercer (first half) and Sarah McMullen (second half) performing well behind a strong defense.

 "Our goalies, they were just fantastic," Antenucci said.