Last Saturday night, the Rye High boys’ lacrosse team (8-8), hosted Rye Country Day (11-2), after celebrating the team’s nine seniors and their moms.
By Melanie Cane
Last Saturday night, the Rye High boys’ lacrosse team (8-8), hosted Rye Country Day (11-2), after celebrating the team’s nine seniors and their moms. Both teams expected it to be competitive and close, and it was, but the Garnets were the victors, 10-7.
After being delayed for over an hour because of rain, the teams came out eager to play. Rye’s senior midfielder and face-off specialist, Chris Santangelo, stunned his opponents by scoring off the face-off. Shortly thereafter, teammate Mike Dugan scored, making it a 2-0 game. With four minutes left in the quarter, Rye Country Day got on the board with a goal by Tyler Miller. Rye senior attackman Cal Hynson made it a 3-1 game with 2:22 left in the quarter.
Rye Country Day stepped up their defense in the second quarter, holding Rye to one goal — Santangelo’s —, and answering back with a goal by Dennis Bass 20 seconds later.
The Garnets had a 4-2 lead going into the second half, but with 8:39 left in the third quarter, Miller scored again, making it a 4-3 game. Santangelo, Hynson, and Dugan scored the next three goals, and Wildcat Riley Van der Broek got one back.
In the fourth quarter, Santangelo scored off the face-off once again and Hynson scored with 5:13 left in the game. The Wildcats scored twice —Van der Broek and Bass — before Santangelo put the icing on the cake. With 1:46 left, Bass scored on a fast break, but it was too little, too late.
Overall, Rye High controlled 22 loose balls to Rye Country Day’s 15. The Garnets took 22 shots to the Wildcats 28, and Garnet goalies Elliot Meisner and Roger Paganelli had 10 saves, while Wildcats goalie, Michal Farber, had 9.
Man for man, the talent on both teams is exceptional, but in this game, the Garnets outplayed the Wildcats with their speed and aggression. As Wildcats Coach Matt Rosolen put it,” The major difference in this game was Rye’s success on face-offs and their ability to control possession.”
RHS Coach Brian Dooley said, “I was proud of our defense and the way they executed our game plan. Chris did a great job winning face offs. It is always nice to beat our crosstown rivals. We are looking forward to the playoffs.”
Garnet team parent John Regan summed it up nicely. “It seemed fitting that on senior night, Chris Santangelo and Cal Hynson combined for eight of Rye’s ten goals. Rye also controlled possession due to Chris’ performance at face-off.”
Beating the Wildcats was an extraordinary feat, as the boys from Rye Country Day had a 10-goal average margin of victory in their 11 wins.
Rosolen praised several of his players. “Andrew Antonacci was terrific matching up against Santangelo and defensemen Matt Farber, Jon Singer, and Henry Cho played very well. It was great having Tyler Miller back on the field after his suffering a knee injury, as he was able to create his own scoring opportunities.”
