Rye High School’s girls soccer team is still without a loss this season, yet Head Coach Rich Savage doesn’t want the varsity squad getting complacent.
“We’re off to a good start,” he said, but “we can’t say we’re anywhere close to where we need to be.”
The Garnets are hot off seven wins and a tie to start the 2024 season and are about to get deeper into league play as the team heads into October.
Rye added to a pair of season-starting shutouts with a string of dominating play the second week of September: a 2-0 win against Somers on the 10th, a 1-1 draw against Pearl River on the 12th, and a 1-0 win against Tappan Zee on the 14th.
Senior Lyla Keenan had herself quite a week during that stretch, with both a goal and an assist against Somers, and then the only goals against Pearl River and Tappan Zee.
The Garnet girls then switched gears, beating their next three opponents with increasingly lopsided shutouts: 3-0 against John Jay Cross River on Sept. 16, 5-0 against Byram Hills on Sept. 20, and 7-0 win against Eastchester on Sept. 21.
Savage cited Charlotte Keenan, a sophomore, as Rye’s standout player during the triple shutouts. She had an assist against John Jay Cross River, a hat trick against Byram Hills, and two goals and an assist against Eastchester. The coach also gave a shout-out to sophomore goalkeeper Blake Sasse for the five saves against Eastchester that helped maintain that shutout.
Photo courtesy RHS Girls Varsity Soccer
Savage attributed the team’s success overall so far to the depth of the Garnets’ bench, noting that a lot of the team’s players have been making their way onto the stat sheets.
While high-scoring players like Lyla Keenan and Charlotte Keenan are often on the scoreboard, others have been working on the back end to maintain the Garnets’ winning streak – such as sophomore Shira Rand, who had assists in four out of six games, and freshman Hannah Jachman, who had two assists against Byram Hills and two goals against Eastchester.
Savage said the amount of talent enables everyone to get in playing time.
The girls soccer team heads into the latter part of regular-season play, with a game against Pelham tonight, Harrison on Friday and John Jay East Fishkill on Saturday.
