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Jupiter Rebounds With A 12-8 Victory Over St. Thomas Aquinas

Written by Lee Roggenburg on . Posted in .
DSC_0830_optOne of the great truisms of living in Florida is that if the weather is not to your liking just wait 5 minutes and it will change. The same can be said about this region’s highly competitive scholastic lacrosse season. The season took another turn tonight as Jupiter convincingly beat STA, sending the Raiders to their first defeat of the season. Coming off their best performance of the season STA struggled to replicate their Friday night win over Boca. The two teams played an excellent opening 12 minutes, at a high level. They combined for 20 shots in the period and only 5 turnovers. Luke Gonzalez opened the scoring for STA on a nice feed from JP Crowley (Towson) a little over a minute into the game. Jupiter struck back on Jesse Foertmeyer’s first of the game off a Daniel Soviero feed and went on to score three of the next four goals, with Soviero, Foertmeyer and Zach Crotty sandwiching a goal by STA’s Joey Dorn. STA responded with Kyle Mamane’s first. James Holdt potted one for Jupiter with 30 seconds left to make the score 5-3 for Jupiter. The two teams put 14 shots on goal on the 20 attempts between them in the first quarter. Jupiter only turned the ball over once in the quarter and played a much more aggressive offensive scheme then they showed against St. Andrew’s last week. Jupiter utilized aggressive cutting while feeding from the side all game and were able to convert on some nice back door feeds into the cage area where STA’s defense missed a few assignments. The second quarter bogged down some as the two teams’ turnover numbers rose, as they struggled to protect the ball. Jupiter outscored STA 2-1 in the period to take a 7-4 halftime lead. Both teams were guilty of playing a little too much one-on-one after their successes in the first. Crotty and Soviero sandwiched a goal by RJ Curtin. Dorn’s first half faceoff advantage for STA was countered by STA’s 9-6 turnover margin in the quarter. The third period started out well for Jupiter as Craig Coughlin and Soviero added goals in the first four minutes to stretch the lead to 9-4. At this point it seemed that the Jupiter offense reverted back to a slower pace and tried to milk the clock a little more and that eventually led to a change of momentum as STA stormed back late in the third with 3 goals in under 3 minutes. Mamane with two and Curtin with one pulled STA to 9-7. STA goalie Ben Tobin made some key saves in this period to help ignite the run. Then the biggest play of the game occurred as Peter Cox of Jupiter scored unassisted as time expired to swing momentum back to Jupiter, and that carried over into the fourth quarter. In the fourth Jupiter tallied the first two goals and Mamane tallied STA’s last goal to make the final 12-8. STA took a few late penalties when trying to get the ball back and Jupiter pretty much ran out the final few minutes. The game was very interesting to watch as both teams came into the game with something to prove. STA wanted to prove their early season record was legit and Jupiter was desperate to regain their season momentum after suffering tough losses to SA and Vero Beach. It seemed Jupiter played with a little more desperation and it showed particularly when STA made their third period comeback. It also looked like Jupiter had a better answer defensively for STA’s high-powered offense than STA had for Jupiter’s motion approach. Each team showed why they are in the mix for state accolades and a rematch could go the other way as well. A nice crowd for a Thursday as plenty of STA parents and fans made the trip north. Once again, the crowd at the lacrosse game dwarfed the one at the baseball game next door. Statistically the game came out as follows: Face-offs: STA 13 – Jupiter 9 (Joey Dorn does his usual thing) Shots: JHS 33 – STA 31 SOG’s: JHS 18 – STA 19 Turnovers: STA 19 – JHS 16. Strip out the 2nd Q and the game was very well played. STA took 8 penalties, with 4 of them late and JHS took 4. The only EMO goal was scored by JHS in the 4th. Both goaltenders had excellent games, regardless of save percentage. Tobin made six saves, many point blank and was mostly beaten by point blank shots. JHS’s freshmen keeper Drake ‘Viper’ Scheele made 11 saves and many of those were point blank too. Each goalie also controlled their clearing passes well. Jupiter was led by Jesse Foertmeyer’s 3G and 2A, while Daniel Soviero scored 3G and 1A. Zach Crotty and Peter Cox also scored twice while James Holdt added 1G and 2A. STA was led by Kyle Mamane’s game high 4 goals and RJ Curtin’s 2 goals. Jupiter returns to action on Saturday when they host Tampa Jesuit while STA hosts Lake Highland Prep Tuesday. No rest for the weary as the top teams continue to play each other! Check out these highlights from ESPNWestPalm.com

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