The 2011 edition of the Rye High School soccer team should be all-defense-all-the time, with senior co-captains Ian Robinson and Henry Gager manning the back line in front of amazing keeper Liam Harris.

 

By Mitch Silver

 

The 2011 edition of the Rye High School soccer team should be all-defense-all-the time, with senior co-captains Ian Robinson and Henry Gager manning the back line in front of amazing keeper Liam Harris.

 

So what happens? The Garnets give up three goals to both Port Chester and Byram Hills (four, if you count the indirect kick that found the net behind Harris without being touched by another foot) and down they go.

 

On the other hand, the graduation losses of scorers Buck Reynolds, Arber Xhema, Brandon Robinson, and Luis Del Pezo should have left the team with a toothless attack. So what explains the 7-0 pasting of Fox Lane and the 5-1 drubbing of up-and-coming Horace Greeley?

 

Maybe it’s this: Rye’s new Brazilian center midfielder, senior Matheus Gomes, could well be the outstanding player in Section 1 this year. When everything’s clicking, he seems to be two or three plays ahead of the defenders. When it’s not, he’s two or three plays ahead of his fellow Garnets and winds up holding the ball, waiting for players to get open. Against Byram, a big, strong squad that packed the middle of the field, he wound up eating that ball, more often than not.

 

This is to take nothing away from Matheus, who has the ability to pop up anywhere on the field, including the end line, and get off a powerful strike with either foot. His screamer of a direct kick was Rye’s only marker in Monday’s 3-1 loss at home to the Bobcats.

 

The Garnets excel against teams that lack the technique to play at their pace, which is fast-bordering-on-frantic. Example: during the Greeley game, played Saturday night in the football stadium on artificial turf, Rye had a throw-in in the attacking third. Despite the fact that the Quakers had seven players back against only two for Rye, the throw-in — taken without a moment’s hesitation — still went forward, right to a Greeley fullback.

 

There’s an out-of-context expression from the ’70s: “Speed kills”. The victim isn’t always the other team. Of course, another factor in the loss to the Bobcats was the deteriorating condition of the pitch at Rye Rec, which penalizes a team like Rye that wants to play close-quarters, Barcelona-style football.

 

Speaking of which, Briarcliff coach Brandon Beck said of Rye recently, “I’m happy we got away with a 1-0 loss. Rye could go all the way this year.”
If they do, they’ll have to go through Port Chester. The Garnets visit the undefeated league leaders Wednesday, October 5, post-press time. Still, win or lose, the puzzling Garnets under head coach Jared Small and assistant Judd Rothstein are wonderful to watch.