On senior night Thursday at Nugent Stadium, three memorable things happened:
- With a hard-fought 1-1 tie against a game Pleasantville side, Rye clinched the league championship. Pleasantville finishes second.
- Eight seniors played their final regular-season home game: Will Christianson Molin, Lex Cox, Nico Etinger, Owen Karl, Eddy Kehoe, Shun Nagata, Alex Rojas, and Owen Wismer.
- One of those seniors, Kehoe, scored his first varsity goal, and it was a huge one.
“Everyone, players and fans alike, were thrilled for Eddy,” said Rye coach Jared Small. “Anyone who has seen Eddy play knows that his work rate and his motor on the field are both exceptional. He was so deserving of this moment tonight. The fact that we were trailing 1-0 when Eddy scored made that goal extra special.”
After a scoreless first half, Pleasantville broke the ice early in the second half to make it 1-0. Then, on a Cox cross from a short corner kick, a Kehoe header tied the game – and gave the Kehoe family a moment they will never forget.
“We needed that goal to clinch the league title,” Small said. “In the balance of the second half, we felt that we were inches away on several occasions from adding that second goal. Ultimately, the draw was a fair result on the night and with it, we earned a league championship. That was something that really mattered to our team.”
With Rye’s unbeaten streak at 11, and just one regular-season game remaining Saturday at Keio Academy, the Section 1 playoffs loom just ahead. Small’s Garnets refuse to think that far ahead.
“As a team, our most important day is today, and our most important match is the next one,” Small said. “We want to close the door on the regular season on Saturday against a really disciplined and tough Keio team.”
