As the regular season comes to an end, it is a critical time for the John Jay Lacrosse team to shift into playoff mode. The #3 seed Indians had a decent season, at best. From the beginning, the team had an extremely difficult schedule, making a winning record that much harder to obtain. Manhasset, Cold Spring Harbor, and Smithtown East were among the toughest games, which are all powerhouse teams. In two of the games, the Indians fell by one goal, and ended up defeating Smithtown East in overtime on Long Island.

Despite an impressive victory over Smithtown East, the Indians also managed to lose a few winnable games. Against arch rival Yorktown, the Indians were winning ten to five going into halftime. Comfortable with the lead, players and coaches focused on doing everything they could to not lose the game, as opposed to trying to win the game. As a result of this, the offense didn’t score for the final eighteen minutes of the game, and Yorktown managed to beat the Indians with a final score of eleven to ten. Given that this was the fourteenth year in a row of losing to Yorktown, the team hopes to make it to the sectional finals and play against the Corn Huskers.

The Indians open up their playoff push on Saturday, May 20th against the number six seed Harrison. Harrison had a successful season, led by their best attackman, McLaughlin, who will be finishing his lacrosse career at the University of North Carolina. If the Indians end up defeating Harrison, they go on to play Rye, who just defeated Fox Lane in the first round of the playoffs. Unfortunately, because John Jay lost to Pleasantville in double overtime, they dropped to the third seed, meaning they must play Rye at their home field. 

One important thing to note going into playoffs is the Indian’s loss of defenseman Braden Burke. In the most recent game, Braden, a junior defenseman committed to Duke, tore his ACL. After being carted off the field, screaming in pain, he was told he wouldn’t be able to play lacrosse for 9 months following the surgery he needs to repair his knee. Burke was arguably the best defenseman on the team, hardly ever losing an individual battle and showcasing his skills when it came to locking down the best attackmen on other teams. Although the team must move on, the loss of Braden will play a huge role in the outcome of the playoffs this year.