Boys lacrosse: Ohio State commit Dylan Furshman leads Jupiter as newly-minted captain
JUPITER — Jupiter boys lacrosse is on a playoff-bound train and star junior Dylan Furshman might as well be the conductor.
The Ohio State commit was once again a constant physical presence in the Warriors’ 12-5 victory over Oxbridge Academy on Tuesday.
And while numbers don't often lie, they actually belie Furshman's dominance.
The junior has tallied 14 goals on just 20 shots on goal, adding three assists — but it's not just what he does around the crease that makes him a special player.
Furshman rarely gets beaten in the faceoff X and is often responsible for giving Jupiter advantages in transition with his speed and intelligence on the field.
He went 15-for-21 in faceoffs and was responsible for 12 ground balls on Tuesday.
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“With his footwork, his size, his speed, it’s just all of it together,” head coach Matt Sofarelli said. “And we kind of say this every year as we do these things on Dylan, but he’s bigger, faster, stronger and quicker than most of the faceoff guys he’s seen.”
That said, there are times when they move Furshman around to generate advantages within matchups on the field, and sometimes, they’ll even sub him off in favor of finding an edge he can provide later in a possession.
“That’s because of him that we’re able to do that,” Sofarelli said. “We’re able to do that as coaches because we have someone so good at his position that we can work back and forth against different opponents because of his physical ability.”
Coming into this year as a commit — to a Buckeyes sports culture he grew up a huge fan of — Furshman wondered if he would feel more pressure from the giant target on his back from opposing defenses.
“People tell me midgame, ‘Ohio State, that’s big,’ and I’m like, ‘Thanks,’” he said with a laugh. “I haven’t felt as much pressure as I thought I would at the beginning of the season. I’m just playing my game, really.”
Most teams have an unspoken tradition of naming seniors to the captain’s role, but that custom was put on pause when Sofarelli passed the virtual armband to Furshman in the middle of his junior year after witnessing him mentoring younger teammates as the season went on.
For Furshman, being named captain — an honor granted just a few weeks ago — represents a dream come full circle for the inner youth in him who used to come to these very fields, imagining himself with a stick in his hand.
“It feels good to know that I really earned that spot throughout the year,” Furshman said. “I used to come to these games when I was little, like, ‘this is where I want to be, this is going to be the time of my life.’ To finally be, not just on the team, but a captain of that team I was watching ever since I was little — it’s a great feeling.”
What would be an even better feeling is to lead that team on a deep playoff run, something Furshman is no stranger to — and he feels like this is a squad primed for exactly that.
“I know we’ve been ready for the postseason since the season started,” Furshman said. “We’re a really good team and we’re going to make a run for sure.”
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Ohio State commit Dylan Furshman leads Jupiter as newly-minted captain
