First-year coach Kyle Espejo has some talent to build his lacrosse program at Country Day on, but none better than Adam Jette, a three-year starter in goal.
Before team practice last week gearing up for the Torreys’ final two regular-season games against Pacific Ridge (a conference contest) and St. Augustine, Espejo named his co-captain goalie as one of his leaders going forward.
While offense and defense warmed up with drills scooping up grounders and playing mini-scrimmages on each side of the field, the coach worked with Jette one-on-one to fine-tune his blocking skills in front of the net.
Espejo wound around to the left to fling a bouncing shot in front of the goal and try to catch Jette off-guard. “That’s my favorite shot,” the coach said of the glancing attempt. Adam deftly bent at the knees and secured the shot in his enlarged goalkeeper’s net.
Asked during breaks for his coach to call out instructions for the next drill to the other players how he approaches playing goalkeeper, Jette, a three-year vet as a junior, said: “Always watch the ball. See the ball, save the ball.”
Second, “Control what you can control.” Asked to unpack that, he explained, “Say a defender gets beat. There’s nothing we can do but respond the best we can. I shouldn’t spend energy getting mad at the defender.”
Finally, “Always be communicating. Make sure I’m always talking. Goalie is the key position to see all the other players. I need to call out to the defense where the offense is coming.”
The Torreys, 5-8 at this writing with a place in the Division I playoffs assured, are by no means a one-man team. Cody Wechter, who plays attack, is the other co-captain. His coach said he leads by example. “He’s a competitor.” Wechter, before practice, said, “Our offense is good at dodging and ‘highlight’ plays. We can always get better at communicating.”
An “unsung hero” Espejo cited is sophomore Madden Craig, who plays in front of Jette on the defense: “He doesn’t get all the credit for scoring goals or making assists. He’s a short-stick defensive midfielder (boys lacrosse also has long-stick middies). He takes the majority of our faceoffs and does other things to contribute.”
The first-year coach talked about his emphasis on increasing intensity in practice. “Practice how you play,” Espejo said. “When we play Bishop’s, for example, they’re not going to treat us like their best friend. So we need to practice that way.”
Bernat Ingles-Riera, a sophomore, talked about the camaraderie on the team: “Many of us are in the same class. We enjoy playing together.”
Ray Lischewski, with long blonde hair, is a freshman defensive midfielder who handles some of the faceoffs. Another player delivered a hype intro of his teammate to a visitor to practice, concluding with, “He has a high ceiling.”
