Jupiter 6 – Benjamin 4 In Tight Defensive Match-Up
Written by Lee Roggenburg on . Posted in Uncategorized.
Intense, Intense, Intense; thy name was last night’s game.
Before a packed crowd of about 300 (plus one all-time sports great), Jupiter defeated Benjamin 6-4 in a battle of Top 5 teams on a beautiful night at a beautiful location. Statistically this game was a little difficult on the eyes. But sports are not always about statistics, they are also about heart and emotion and making a play at a key junction that provides the impetus towards victory. There are no ties in lacrosse (thankfully!) and even in the worst played game (last night was most definitely not) someone comes away satisfied and someone goes home unhappy. Jupiter’s strength made enough plays against Benjamin’s strength and that made all of the difference.
The first 8 minutes of the first quarter were a feast of turnovers as both teams came out hyped up and had trouble settling down into a rhythm. Benjamin opened the scoring on a Ryan Sylvester EMO goal off a feed from Andrew Packer at the 10:31 mark. Benjamin pretty much controlled possession in the quarter even though they committed TEN turnovers in the period keeping them from adding to their lead. Momentum quickly swung to Jupiter as they scored twice within a 30-second span at 3:38 and 3:11. James Holdt scored the first off a nice feed from behind the net by Jesse Foertmeyer and then Peter Cox threw a laser unassisted to send Jupiter up 2-1. After a time out Benjamin tied the score on a Robert Jacobs goal off a Charlie Nicklaus wing feed at 2:26 to tie the game. Foertmeyer put Jupiter up again with just 8 seconds on the clock on a similar feed from Holdt to end the first 3-2.
The teams combined for 16 turnovers and 4 penalties, while only getting off 16 shots total in the frame. Benjamin controlled 4 of the 6 face-offs, which was their highpoint or the game as they incredibly were only able to win one more the rest of the game.
The second period settled into a defensive slugfest as both defenses stepped up big time and both goalies made terrific stops when the two offenses were able to penetrate. Benjamin in particular had a very tough time penetrating the Jupiter defense in settled situations, a pattern that played itself out the rest of the game. Jupiter’s Sean Denes scored the only goal of the period at the 6:41 mark on a Foertmeyer feed, again from behind the cage to the cutter, to send the game to halftime with a 4-2 Jupiter lead. The defensive pressure also started taking a toll on the shooting percentages of the two teams. Jupiter put 7 of 9 shots in the first quarter on goal, but was only able to put 8 of 19 on goal the rest of the way. Benjamin was little more accurate the rest of the game but never really got their shooting going either. While many saves were spectacular there was also a number of shots that really didn’t challenge the goalies too much either. Sort of a feast or famine feel to it.
The third quarter started out with Jupiter trying to put the game away early. They took a number of shots quickly and found the net just 51 seconds in on Ben Yetman’s right alley dodge to stretch the lead to 5-2. Jupiter kept pushing after winning the next face-off but a few turnovers slowed their momentum and Benjamin’s long pole Jeremiah O’Connor went end to end to score unassisted at 9:08 to bring the lead back to 2. The defenses again took over and Jupiter’s freshmen goalie Drake Scheele and Benjamin’s Anthony Cicio traded doorstop saves to keep the score as is. Scheele’s save at the 7 minute mark on Richard Johnston in particular stood out because it came just 2 minutes after O’Connor’s goal and kept Benjamin from gaining more momentum.
The fourth quarter played out in a similar fashion as offensive chances were limited. Jupiter regained their 3 goal lead on Daniel Soviero’s EMO goal on a feed from long pole Shane Bogue at 8:02. It looked like this might the backbreaker, particularly when Benjamin’s long poles Ross Sanford and Ryan Rengasawmy took simultaneous penalties a couple of minutes later. But Jupiter did not handle the 2-man EMO well, failing to get a good look and committing a few turnovers, and long pole Braylen Sampson missed a gimme right on the crease that would have put the game away.. Benjamin was able to kill the penalties and was able to narrow the lead to 6-4 on Jacobs’ second of the game from Johnston at 3:00 but that was as close as they could get as the final score ended 6-4. The last few minutes were nail-biters for both coaches as Benjamin pushed to get closer only to be turned away by the stout Jupiter defense and Jupiter had some troubles running the clock out, with Holdt stoned on the doorstep by Cicio with 2 minutes left.
Overall a better game to watch than to coach, as both coaches will need to work on some fundamentals this week in practice. Both should be very happy with how their defenses played. The big question will be how a potential rematch will play out in the regional playoffs. I think fans from both sides will be more than happy to show up for that rematch but there is also a team named Vero in that bracket that will also have something to say. Good luck to both teams the rest of the season and thanks to both Coach Loftus and Coach Cheatham for spending time with me after the game.
Final Statistics:
Face-offs: Jupiter 9 – Benjamin 5 (only one after the first period)
Shots: Jupiter 28 – Benjamin 32
SOG: Jupiter 15 – Benjamin 15
Turnovers: Jupiter 27 – Benjamin 28 (some were definitely because of the defense but MANY were on forced ball carrying by middies and long poles – at the high school level intensity and trying to do too much do tend to go together)
Jupiter took 8 penalties and Benjamin 7 – the simultaneous 2 penalties in the fourth hurt badly
Scheele saved 11 of 15 (73%) and Cicio saved 9 of 15 (60%). Great job guys!
Jupiter was led by Foertmeyer’s 1G/2A and Holdt’s 1G/1A, while Soviero, Cox, Denes and Yetman (game winner) adding goals, while Bogue added his assist. Benjamin was led by Jacobs with 2G, Silvester and O’Connor with 1G each, and Nicklaus, Johnston and Packer adding an assist each.
Jupiter returns to action on Friday, hosting Pine Crest and Benjamin travels to Orlando to take on Lake Mary on the first of a two-game swing.