With only 47 hours of recovery time after Monday’s emotional, empty-the-tank quarterfinal victory over Byram Hills, the top-seeded Rye boys were back on the pitch Wednesday for a tension-filled semifinal against No. 5 seed Walter Panas.
With both teams suffering from the same unfortunate lack of recovery time in this compressed Section 1 tournament timeframe, Rye came out on top, 3-1. Finding a way to win, even when you don’t have your best stuff, is what championship teams do.
The Garnets now have the luxury of two days off before the section title game, which kicks off at 7 p.m. Saturday at Lakeland. The No. 1 vs. No. 2 showdown will pit Rye (15-1-3) against Pleasantville (16-2-1) for the third time this season. The section championship appearance is Rye’s third straight, and fourth in the past six years.
Not long after the ball boys arrived at their game positions in Wednesday’s semifinal, Rye junior midfielder Kasen Scarperi buried a sudden, swinging shot in the top corner of the Panas goal from just inside the 18-yard line. Four and a half minutes into the game, the Garnets were already up 1-0.
“Panas came out really strong in the early going of the game,” said Rye coach Jared Small. “Their midfield was terrific. Even up by a goal, there were a lot of things that could have happened, but our confidence grew as we settled into playing more of our style of play.”
From the five-minute mark of the first half until the final horn, this game was tense. The Garnets had at least a half-dozen scoring chances they couldn’t convert. Intentional or not, Panas’ long ball and chase game began to test Rye’s back row. Toss in a few yellow cards given to both sides, and Rye’s 1-0 lead at the half didn’t feel like much of a lead at all.
Just over three minutes into the second half, Panas looked to have scored the tying goal with a rocket shot off the crossbar. But the ball ricocheted straight down and somehow never crossed the plane of the goal.
Seven minutes later, Panas scored the equalizer. The Panthers’ fans, coaches, players, and bench erupted with renewed energy. Tie ballgame with the season on the line.
Rye junior midfield Peter Wilmot altered the narrative at the 22:41 mark with a seeing-eye shot to the far post off a corner kick/set play from senior Lex Cox that swung the earthquake needle back over to the Rye side.
Apparently, no one mentioned the tension thing to Rye junior midfielder Alec Dodge Terra. Like a camp counselor playing keep away from his campers, Dodge Terra put on a master clinic of ball control and dribbling that garnered multiple “ooh’s and aah’s” from the Garnet faithful. And with three angry Panthers breathing down his neck, he calmly laced a surgical strike past the Panas goalie for Rye’s third and final goal of the game.
“This is the game I love,” Dodge Terra said. “I try to imagine that I’m playing in my backyard with my dad. I try to keep it simple and trust my instincts. And I love to practice a lot.”
It certainly shows.
“Alec has an extremely calm demeanor on the field,” Small said. “The highest compliment you can pay a soccer player is to say that the game really slows down when the ball is on his feet. That’s been Alec all season long.”
