Rye’s field hockey team grabbed the League title, earned a No. 2 seed in Sectional playoffs, and made a phenomenal post-season run. The Garnets beat Byram Hills, 3-0, in the quarterfinals at home before topping Nyack, 2-0, last week.

 

By Melanie Cane

 

Rye’s field hockey team grabbed the League title, earned a No. 2 seed in Sectional playoffs, and made a phenomenal post-season run. The Garnets beat Byram Hills, 3-0, in the quarterfinals at home before topping Nyack, 2-0, last week.

 

RHS played competitively against their nemesis, top-ranked Lakeland, in the Section 1 Class B final on November 8, but were shut out, 5-0. It was the fourth consecutive Sectional title for Lakeland, which upped its record to 18-1, and advanced to States.

 

The Section finals were played on a cold night with snow on the field. Rye held off the Lakeland Hornets until the last minute of the first half.

 

Rye took their fighting spirit into the second half, but Lakeland scored two goals in rapid succession in the first two minutes of the half, dampening Rye’s spirits. Lakeland held Rye to corners of the field, and basically shut down their offense.

 

“The Lakeland score was not indicative of how the game went,’’ said Garnets Coach Emily Fitzgerald.

 

Fitzgerald praised Alex Bennett and Scarlett Sulliman for solid performances. Claire Martinelli and Lacey Collins also were cited by their coach for getting their team to Sectional finals.

 

“We had a great post-season run,’’ said the coach. “This is an amazing group of young women who worked so hard all season and never gave up.”