For the first time in five years, Rye High School’s boys soccer team has pushed far enough into the postseason to come away with the area’s Section 1 Class A championship.
The Garnets’ varsity squad battled adversity through the regular season, which ended with a 14-4 record, but the players united as a team to win the Class A sectional tournament last Sunday by defeating Ardsley High, 8-3, at a neutral site in Yorktown.
Rye’s offense had struggled to score in its last eight games of the regular season, with a total of only eight goals in the final five contests. But unseeded Rye matched that total in the section finals with a barrage of scoring against second-seed Ardsley, as the team’s offensive attacks pressured Ardsley’s defense throughout the game. The scoring breakdown: a three-goal “hat trick” from senior captain striker Kaden Zion; a pair of goals from junior striker Alex Rojas; and a goal apiece from junior midfielder Nico Etinger, senior left back Liam Harrington and freshman midfielder Felix Wismer.
While the section final might have seemed like a pushover, the road through the tournament to the title match was anything but. Rye’s first victory, on Oct. 26 against one of its local league opponents, Pelham Memorial High, was played with emotion and resulted in a 1-0 squeaker that got them into the quarterfinals. In the first of his last two home games, senior goalkeeper Ayden Breen played flawlessly, shutting out Pelham’s offense. And junior midfielder Shun Nagata scored his first goal of the season — which turned out to be the game winner.
The Oct. 29 quarterfinal match, the last home game of the year, was against a sneaky threat, Lakeland High of Yorktown Heights. But with stellar defense that included another clean slate from goalkeeper Breen, Rye emerged with a second 1-0 win.
Rye players had a lot on their minds as they headed into their semifinal showdown on Halloween afternoon against Byram Hills High. The Garnets had already lost twice to the Bobcats during the regular season and knew it would require a near perfect-effort to knock off the Armonk school off on its home turf. Yet Rye did just that, with a 2-1 victory that sent them on to the finals and the 2024 title.