The Rye girls lacrosse season ended at the hands of undefeated Sayville in Friday’s Class C state semifinals.
The Garnets (16-5) entered the No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup with wins in 14 of their last 15 games, capturing section and regional titles along the way, but Sayville’s march toward perfection continued with an 11-7 win at SUNY Cortland.
Senior Annie Toulouse opened the scoring 90 seconds into the game, giving Rye a 1-0 lead, but the Golden Flashes (20-0) responded 20 seconds later. By the end of the first quarter, the Long Island region champions led 4-1.
Senior Beau Whaling scored the first of her four goals to make it a 5-2 game in the second quarter. Sayville’s largest lead was 9-3 in the third quarter, before the Garnets scored three straight to make things interesting.
USC lacrosse commit Paige Tepedino, who battled back from an ACL injury to finish her senior season strong, scored her second goal in the last minute of the third quarter, sparking Rye’s rally.
Whaling opened the fourth quarter with back-to-back scores, cutting the deficit to 9-6 with 10 minutes still to play, but the Flashes responded with back-to-back goals of their own.
The Section 1 champion Garnets had one last chance to celebrate as a team when Whaling found the back of the net on an assist by junior Coco Peters with 1:20 remaining.
Sayville advances to a championship matchup Saturday against Jamesville-DeWitt, the same school the Rye boys face for the Class C state title on Sunday.
