Rye High’s Girls’ Lacrosse team achieved their goal of winning their third consecutive league championship.
By Melanie Cane
Rye High’s Girls’ Lacrosse team achieved their goal of winning their third consecutive league championship. They did so in grand style: undefeated in league play. Unfortunately, their next goal, to win the section championship, eluded them.
Seeded third in Section 1 Class B, the Garnets faced sixth-seeded Ursuline at home in the quarterfinals May 20. Rye got off to a quick start, scoring three goals in the first six minutes. With 11:15 left in the first half, Amanda Hartzell scored her third goal of the game, which was her 100th career goal, putting the Garnets up 5-2.They were up 8-3 at the half and won 14-9. Hartzell finished with four goals, as did senior co-captain Margaret Mitchell.
With the Ursuline win behind them, Rye set their sights on the semifinal against the No. 2 seed Yorktown on May 23. Micheline DiNardo said the team was very excited to have another shot against Yorktown, whom they’d lost to by ten goals last year in the semis. The Garnets were looking for vindication.
In the first half, it seemed the Garnets had a chance, taking a 5-3 lead into halftime. But Yorktown dominated early in the second half, scoring four consecutive goals. With 14:30 left in the game, Abby Abate tied the game at seven. Then Yorktown took an 8-7 lead and made a huge save with 37 seconds left. The Huskers tacked on one more goal in the final seconds to win 9-7. Hartzell scored three and Molly DeCaro scored twice.
Despite the loss, the Garnets were proud to have played their best game of the season. Afterwards, DiNardo reflected, “When we were down by three, we tied the game and that shows how determined we were. Last year we got destroyed by Yorktown, so to lose by only two goals was huge. We went out with an amazing ending.”
Yorktown went on to beat top-seeded Somers and win the Section championship.