Rye boys’ varsity lacrosse trounced Harrison, 10-6, Tuesday in their league opener.
By Kevin LaManna
The Rye Garnets, fresh off a tough, educational loss to Iona, soundly defeated the Harrison Huskies on their turf Tuesday, 10-6. Smarter passing, superior ball movement, and spreading out the offensive perimeter translated into a big Garnet win.
Early on, the teams appeared evenly matched; both sides were plagued by dropped passes and ground ball trouble leading to turnovers.
Despite hot tempers and physically aggressive play that marks nearly every Rye-Harrison contest, Rye managed to dictate the pace and come out on top. Harrison took the lead first, and Rye kept pace. Once the game was tied 2-2, the Garnets kicked their offensive performance into high gear and never looked back.
Greg Stern, Andrew Davis, and Jack Hasselman scored two goals apiece, while attackman Cal Hynson chalked up an impressive four goals in the Rye win.
Asked about hat trick-plus scoring blitz, Cal Hynson shared the credit with his teammates: “It was exciting to score my first varsity goals today, but the whole team fed me and without them it would be impossible.’’ The attackman continued, “It was a really great experience especially getting to do it in a win against Harrison.”
Assistant Coach Matt Tauber said he was happy with the Garnet performance: “It was great to get the first win of the season and it’s always tough to play Harrison.”
Coach Tauber said games against the Huskies are “always guaranteed to be very physical. We need to carry the momentum of this win into the rest of the season moving forward.”
Tough Loss to Iona
The Rye boys’ varsity lacrosse team surged within one point of the Iona Gaels Monday, before losing their home opener, 14-9.
Coach Brian Dooley and the Garnets entered Nugent stadium intending to start the season on a high note but found themselves pitted against an Iona squad that matched them evenly in size, conditioning, and skill.
It was a non-league game decided by the fundamentals of the sport: capitalizing on ground balls, fast breaks, clearing the ball, and accurate passes.
For most of the first quarter, the teams advanced in lockstep. The Gaels went up first, Rye answered. The Gaels scored again, Rye followed suit. The score remain tied at 3 until careless errors began to turn the tide against the Garnets.
Botched passes resulted in turnovers for Rye. Clearing the defensive zone enabled Iona to regain possession. Iona’s attack found an open stick and scored again, widening the gap to lead to 5-3.
Missed opportunities and errors allowed Iona to widen the lead to five in the third quarter. All seemed lost until Rye rallied to close within two points by the end the quarter, trailing 9-7.
Rye came within a point of the Gaels in the fourth quarter, but the Garnets’ surge was silenced by a four-point run by Iona.
Rye High managed to pull down impressive statistics on offense and defense: attackman Jack Hasselman lead the Garnets with a hat trick, followed by attackman Greg Stern with two goals. Scoring one goal apiece were Andrew Davis, Chris Santangelo, Jake Concavage, and Danny Sullivan. Goalie Peter White saved nine out of 27 shots on goal.
“It’s only the first game,’’ said senior Greg Stern. “We have to outwork, outplay, and outhustle the other team if we expect to win.’’
Stern sat out the first half because a back injury had sidelined him from practices.
Coach Dooley tried to look on the bright side: “We learn a tremendous amount this time of year in every performance because the learning curve is huge.”
Photos by Wilson Hunt and Kevin LaManna
