Girls Lacrosse Sets Sights on Winning the Section Crown
By Erin Maher
With a revamped starting lineup, coach Michelle Mason believes it’s a season of refocusing, not rebuilding, for the Rye girls lacrosse team.
Six seniors graduated last year, but the 2025-26 team is loaded with nine players who have already committed to play lacrosse in college, including all six seniors.
“A lot of players are stepping into new roles and positions,” Mason said. “So much of us is a new team, although our goals and our culture remain.”
After beating Nyack by one to win the 2024 section title, the Garnets posted an impressive 13-4 record in 2025, winning 10 straight to return to the section championship. The second time around, they lost by one to an undefeated Nyack team.
This year’s captains, Clare Nemsick, Beau Whaling, and Paige Tepedino, hope to take Rye to a third straight title game. Whaling leads a strong attacking unit, which includes three seniors. Mason called Nemsick, the lone returning experienced defender, an “outstanding” leader.
The Garnet coach also called junior attacker Mary Ebeling “an absolute force to be recognized.” Last season, Ebeling racked up 50 points, recording 30 goals and 20 assists. Fellow junior Blake Sasse, who Mason said came into her own at the end of the 2025 season, joins Whaling as one of the team’s draw specialists.
The Garnets got off to a 2-0 start this season, holding the lead for nearly every minute of both games. But it was the final quarter that really set them apart.
In the season opener, Rye beat Pelham 15-7, scoring the game’s final seven goals to turn a one-point lead into a rout. Then, the Garnets won 16-7 at Bronxville, outscoring the Broncos by five in the fourth quarter.
Freshman Dylan Ehrlich debuted as one of the squad’s three new goalies and posted five saves against Bronxville. Attacker Annie Toulouse scored four points, and fellow senior Mia Howson secured five goals.
A spring break trip to Florida provided the team’s toughest test yet, facing American Heritage, a Delray Beach school that won state championships in 2021, 2023, and 2024. Rye held its own before falling 11-8.
The three-goal margin made it one of the closest contests of the season for the Stallions (14-1), who won their previous two games 20-4 and 15-2.
In the spirit of taking the field with the best, the Garnets also had a training session with Sydni Black, a former All-American from Loyola University Maryland, who was the 2024 NCAA Woman of the Year and now plays professionally in the Women’s Lacrosse League.
Despite leaving Florida with their first loss of the season, the Garnets return to New York with valuable experiences that will better prepare them to take on all challengers in Section 1.
“It’s just really focusing on making sure we’re having a great time and working hard, and learning in the moment,” Mason said.
Boys Lacrosse Has New Coach, Same Goals
By Steven Kearney
Jeremy Guski may be a new name to a few families in Rye, but the Garnets’ new boys lacrosse coach has been a fixture in Westchester high school lacrosse for the last 20 years.
“There were only a couple of head coaching jobs that I ever thought might be appealing to me,” Guski said. “Rye was one of them. There’s such a great tradition of excellence here at Rye, such incredible support and respect for the program at all levels. I was honored to be considered for the position and feel extremely fortunate to be here. We’re really just getting started with the boys and my coaches, and I can’t wait to get after it.”
Guski, a graduate of Mahopac High School and a former All-American lacrosse player himself at UMass, is a fifth grade teacher at Greenacres Elementary School in Scarsdale. Before coming to Rye, he was associate head coach at Yorktown High School, one of the county’s perennial lacrosse powers. He also put many years in as an assistant coach at John Jay.
In the offseason, Guski coaches for Prime Time Lacrosse, one of the premier youth travel organizations in the country. His infectious enthusiasm for the game and for working with young people is evident as soon as you shake the man’s hand.
“I’ve been fortunate in my coaching career to have worked with some incredible people, like Yorktown coach Tim Shurr, who I also worked with at John Jay. From hauling gear before practice, after practice, to handling ourselves on and off the field, the focus for our team is going to be ‘we’ not ‘me.’ If we can do all the little things well, we’ll be game-ready. Once we get there as a team, we know we’ll be as competitive as every Rye team I’ve ever coached against.”
The “we” piece is where it gets exciting for the 2026 Garnets.
Gone are the seniors from the star-studded class of 2025, whose run ended in the section championship. But in 2026, as in most years, Guski’s Garnets will be among the top contenders for a Section 1 title once again.
Senior captains Carson Miller, Henry Shoemaker – yes, THAT Carson Miller and Henry Shoemaker – Nigel Strazzini and Jack Melville will anchor this talented team. Both Miller and Strazzini are committed to Harvard for lacrosse. Shoemaker is also headed to Harvard to play football. Senior Thomas Goldszer will be back on attack for Rye.
“Our captains this year have played a ton of high-level lacrosse,” Guski said. “As many folks in Rye know, these kids were born to be leaders. And more importantly they’ve learned how to operate like Rye captains by being members of great teams for the past four years. We’re going to leverage that championship pedigree, and work to pass it down to our younger players. And the tradition continues.”
Junior Charlie Brady, another Harvard lacrosse commit, leads the class of 2027 contingent. Defenseman Luke Denvir is committed to play lacrosse at Notre Dame. The Scully twins, Luke and Sam, will have opponents seeing double. Junior middie Henry Gilroy is back, as is face-off specialist Wilson Redd.
And with goalie Sam LaMonte and Will and Max Niejadlik all building on their breakout freshmen seasons, suffice it to say 2026 is definitely not a rebuilding year for Rye.
In the season opener, the Garnets were in control from start to finish, defeating Somers 12-5 in Guski’s debut. Brady scored four goals, and Gilroy added three.
Despite a loss in its second game, Rye still proved it will contend for section and state titles. The Garnets only lost by 12-11 to Cold Spring Harbor, the defending Section 8 champion and Class D state semifinalist.
The Seahawks scored first and led 6-2 before the Garnets scored six straight goals in the span of five minutes to pull ahead 8-6. All of Rye’s goals in the game were scored by Miller (six) and Will Niejadlik (five). The game’s final five minutes were filled with back-and-forth action. Miller scored with 1:30 left, but Rye was unable to score the equalizer in the final 90 seconds.
It was a game Guski and the team can build on over the course of a two-month regular season. His newly assembled Rye varsity coaching staff may rank among the strongest in Westchester: Sean O’Rourke (goalies), Gavin Adler (defense), Matt Constaindenetis (faceoffs), Adam McReddie and Chairman of the Board of Rye Athletics Luke Walsh.
Despite the high expectations, Guski’s toughest coaching assignment may be the one he returns home to every night.
“Yes, we have five kids and it’s awesome,” he said. “And I wouldn’t want it any other way.”
