LAKELAND – In their most dominant game of the year – and their most important, so far – the Rye boys soccer team left no doubt who the class of Section 1 is. The Garnets’ 5-0 dismantling of No. 2 seed Pleasantville on Saturday pushed their unbeaten streak to 16 games and secured their second-consecutive section championship.
“We’re ecstatic right now,” said junior midfielder Peter Wilmot. “We’ve known we could be a special team for a long time, since tryouts back in August, really. Those early-morning summer workouts with Coach (Jon) Tuttle, that’s the cornerstone of this team. The hard work off the pitch, on the pitch, the bonds we share. When you suffer together, that’s how you become a team. And we are not done, by the way.”
Three minutes into the game, junior Kasen Scarperi finished off a sweet dish from sophomore Felix Wismer for a 1-0 lead. As Rye (16-1-3) applied more and more pressure on a frazzled Pleasantville side (16-3-1) in the first half, it was sophomore defender Christian Hoffman who set an unflinching physical tone for the rest of his teammates.
“Hoffy won every 50-50 ball he saw in that first half for us,” said senior Lex Cox. “Christian came up huge for us tonight and we needed him.”
Second-half goals came fast and furious for Rye. Senior Alex Rojas scored, then Wismer, then Scarperi again, all in an eight-minute span. By the time senior Eddie Kehoe finished off the scoring for Rye with 3:30 left to play, the outcome had long been established.
“It feels fantastic,” Rye coach Jared Small said immediately following the game. “So proud of this group tonight. This was a complete performance by our team on such a big stage. The last several weeks we have been playing our best soccer of the season. Coach Tuttle and I knew a long time ago that this was a really good team. I’m happy for these boys tonight and I know they’re already looking forward to our next game.”
That next game comes in the regional semifinal round of the New York state tournament. The Garnets will face Section 9 champion New Paltz at 5 p.m. Wednesday in Goshen, with the winner advancing to a state quarterfinal game Nov. 8 in Yorktown.
