Starting one senior, seven juniors, a sophomore and a freshman, St. John’s suffered a 10-6 loss against Taft (Conn.) in the Geico Nationals final at Catholic University. The Cadets left with a learning experience they may not have received during a dominant eight-game start.
“We can’t win every game, no matter what the circumstance is,” sophomore goalie Caleb Fyock said. “Someone might have an [edge] against us, and we just have to fight back and do what we know, trust our coaches, trust our players.”
The Cadets (8-1) scored the first two goals and entered the final minutes of the first half with the score tied at 2 before the game started to escape their grasp. Taft’s Jeffery Ricciardelli, a senior headed to Notre Dame, finally found space and broke the tie with 2:19 left, then scored again with 1:19 to go. The Rhinos controlled the ensuing faceoff and scored six seconds later to secure a 5-2 lead entering halftime.
St. John’s didn’t control the ball once during that 66-second stretch, as part of a recurring struggle with faceoffs. Taft won 15 of 18 opportunities, as the Cadets played without their starting faceoff man.
“I believe that we made more fundamental mistakes than Taft,” St. John’s Coach Wes Speaks said. “The fundamental mistakes were an inability to pick up groundballs the first time. I think the fundamental mistakes are the reason why we were in such a hole.”
Ricciardelli finished with five goals, the last of which stretched Taft’s lead to 10-4 midway through the fourth quarter. The Cadets ended up generating some momentum down the stretch, scoring twice and winning a pair of faceoffs, but it wasn’t enough.
St. John’s is nearing the end of a demanding schedule that began with seven Washington Catholic Athletic Conference opponents and ramped up this weekend with Sunday’s semifinal against Georgetown Prep, the Interstate Athletic Conference champion.
The Cadets will contend this week in a local showcase of top teams from the WCAC and IAC, another opportunity for their young players to grow as the season ends.
“The thing that [Speaks] said is that we just can’t keep our heads down,” Fyock said. “This should make us want to come back next week, play St. Stephen’s/St. Agnes and give it to them. Don’t dwell on this loss — 24 hours, forget about it and go right back to work.”
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St. John’s drops Geico Nationals lacrosse title game, ending its undefeated run - Washington Post
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