The Rye High School girls soccer squad is off to the state tournament in Cortland on Saturday, after blasting through their competition to secure their New York State Class A Regional Championship title this past weekend.
The Garnets trounced Chenango Valley in an impressive 6-0 shutout on Nov. 9 – made possible in large part to sophomore Charlotte Keenan, who scored a hat trick. In addition to her three goals, junior Clare Nemsick scored two and senior Joy DeSanto scored one. Keenan, as well as freshman Hannah Jachman and senior Bowyn Brown had the assists.
“We were super excited to have a dominant performance in the regional finals,” head Coach Rich Savage told The Record. “Everyone contributed in everyone got to play in that game.”
Savage has attributed a lot of the success this season to the depth and versatility of the bench, even as the girls have had to fight through injuries heading into the postseason. They’ve been able to overcome this adversity – including the team’s first loss of the season to John Jay East Fishkill in October – to clinch the Section 1 Class A championship earlier this month, and now the Regional title.
Savage described a euphoric feeling among the team.
“It was a sensational feeling to be able to return back to the final four again,” he said.
The Garnets will begin the state tournament against New Hartford at Cortland College on Saturday at noon.