FAIRFIELD – Matt Jeffrey wore a white wristband with the words “My Time” written on it Sunday at the Class L state championship lacrosse game.
Every time things weren’t going well, he’d touch the wristband and re-focus.
Jeffrey, a Cheshire senior midfielder who will play at Notre Dame next year, struggled in the first half against St. Joseph. But the second half? It was his time.
Jeffrey scored the last four goals, rallying the top-seeded Rams (18-4) from a one-goal deficit with 5:31 left in the game to a 13-12 victory at Sacred Heart University and Cheshire’s second straight state championship in lacrosse (the Rams won Class M last year).
“I thought at the beginning of the game, I was losing a little bit of confidence,” said Jeffrey, last year’s USA Today National Player of the Year who was named the top-ranked recruit in his class. “I tried to do a little too much at times, I got the ball stripped a couple times, I missed like 6-7 shots in a row. At the end of the day, you can’t let that get to you. Just those bad plays, you can’t dwell on them, you got to be ready for the next play.
“I wrote ‘My Time’ on my wrist and every time I was down, I’d tap my wrist and go, ‘It’s my time to go.’ It really resets my mind on the next play.”
With St. Joseph threatening to score in the last two minutes, Cheshire’s defense came up with a big steal to gain possession and the Rams rode out the clock for the win.
“(Jeffrey) took over in the fourth quarter and he’s going to get a lot of attention and rightfully so, but our defense made a hell of a play to get the ball back to us,” Cheshire coach Mike Devine said.
Cheshire led 6-3 after one quarter and 8-5 at halftime. Junior Sean Grevelding had four of the Rams’ goals in the first half.
Jeffrey said he was “probably 0 for 12” in the first half.
Cheshire wins the Class L title 13-12 #ctblax pic.twitter.com/oWYi6nFwiv
— Lori Riley (@lrileysports) June 9, 2024
“At halftime I kind of called him out a little bit,” Levine said. “But he’s the kind of kid who’s going to rally around that, he’s going to make a change and he’s going to find a way.”
St. Joseph cut the deficit to 8-7, then Adam Vernon scored off a Jeffrey assist to put the Rams up 9-7. Jeffrey got his first goal with 3:12 left in the third but St. Joseph scored the next three goals to tie the score at 10 and the Cadets took their first lead on a Paul Karafa goal in the fourth. Jeffrey scored with 6:42 left and St. Joseph came back again to take a 12-11 lead with 5:31 left. But Jeffery scored his final two goals, the last one with 3:52 left, and then the Cheshire defense held on.
Matt Jeffery gets another goal and it’s 13-12 3:33 left pic.twitter.com/WYyRnIRBji
— Lori Riley (@lrileysports) June 9, 2024
“After (the first) half, Coach woke me up a little bit,” Jeffrey said. “He was like, ‘This is where the greats make their name.’ In the fourth quarter, we’re losing our momentum a little bit and St. Joe’s was gaining momentum.
“That’s what my job is, to kill that motivation, start our momentum building, to bring that energy and it’s fun, it’s fun to putting the dagger in at the end of the game like that.”
Somers falls to New Fairfield in Class S
Robby Martin was the only senior on the Somers lacrosse team this season. Despite its youth, the team made it to the Class S championship game against New Fairfield Sunday at Sacred Heart University.
Somers lost 7-0 but the second-seeded Spartans and their coach Ken McCarthy were hopeful about the future after the game.
“All the guys, we were all so stoked to go on the bus and get to the field and just be in this moment,” said Martin, a midfielder. “Because it’s been a couple years since Somers has been in a state championship.”
The last time Somers (16-3) was in a state final was 2018. The last time it won a title was 2017.
Sophomore goalie Evan Poulin made 15 saves for the Spartans.
“We knew New Fairfield was going to be a battle,” McCarthy said. “We’re just thrilled to be here. We thought we’d be able to put up a fight and keep it close and I feel we really did – 7-0 doesn’t seem like it was close but it was a pretty close game if you watched the game.”
It was the fourth state title for top-seeded New Fairfield (15-6).
“We worked hard all season long and I think we deserved to get here,” Martin said. “New Fairfield, I’ll give it to them because they are a really good team. Next year, Somers is going to be even better and come back even stronger.
“It was fun, helping the younger kids. All of them are incredible.”
