John Jay Beats Greeley 13-10 in Boys Lacrosse

First-year John Jay lacrosse coach Tim Schurr has been around the sport long enough to know that you don't judge a team by its record.

That's especially been the case in what has been a wild and wacky season throughout the area so far.

So when Horace Greeley entered Tuesday afternoon's game with a 1-5 record, Schurr knew better than to take the Quakers lightly.

"They're a good team," Schurr said. "We knew that coming in."

Schurr's assessment proved correct as the Quakers hung tough with the Indians and outplayed them in several key aspects of the game before bowing to John Jay  13-10.

With the win, John Jay, which is 19th in the latest Under Armour/Inside Lacrosse National Rankings, improved to 6-1. John Jay hosts Corning East, which has advanced to the Class C state championship two times in the last three season, on Saturday, April 24 at noon.

Against Greeley, John Jay was led offensively by juniors Brendan Morris and Forrest Walter, each of whom scored three goals. Morris, an attackman, added an assist. Their big outings were much needed as the Quakers limited Johns Hopkins University-bound Mike Daniello, the nation's ninth-ranked junior by Inside Lacrosse, to one goal and two assists.

"We knew (Greeley senior defenseman) Hunter Bastian was going to be on Daniello the whole game," Greeley senior midfielder Dan Leventhal said. "And he did a great job."

So too did Leventhal, who finished with three goals and an assist. His first goal, with 1:52 left in the first quarter, gave the Quakers their only lead  at 2-1. John Jay tied it with 13 seconds remaining in the period on a goal by Morris' twin brother, Jimmy.

After Walter hit the pipe with a shot early in the second quarter, Daniello scored moments later off a feed from Jake Weil to give the Indians a 3-2 lead. After Army-bound teammate Will O'Donnell made it 4-2, Greeley rallied to tie it at 4-4 on Leventhal's second goal of the game. It came with 5:55 left in the second quarter. John Jay snapped the tie when Walter scored off an O'Donnell feed just 52 seconds before halftime.

That's how the score remained until the 6:56 mark of the third quarter when Leventhal's third goal of the game made it 5-5.

But John Jay started a 3-0 run off the ensuing faceoff that proved to be the difference. It began when Brendan Morris scored unassisted with 6:38 left in the quarter. The Indians then got unassisted goals from Jake Weil and Billy Pray.

After Greeley made it 8-6 on senior attackman Nate Becker's second goal of the game late in the third, John Jay answered with a goal by freshman midfielder Tom Beck early in the fourth to make it 9-6 and the Quakers didn't come closer than two goals the rest of the way.

Beck also saw action in the faceoff circle in the second half, where Greeley senior Kyle Shaub turned in a strong effort, finishing with a slight edge over the Indians.

"They played very hard and Shaub did a terrific job on faceoffs," Schurr said.

Leventhal said that despite the Quakers' record, they are still confident they can be a playoff contender.

"Anybody can beat anybody in Section 1," Leventhal said. "We've had a tough schedule and some tough losses, but we believe in ourselves and we're going to keep working hard and keep improving and I think the playoffs will be real interesting."