Snake Eyes from Boys Varsity Soccer Keeps Pelham in the Hutch, Garnets Advance to Quarters

Rye Boys Varsity Soccer kept Pelham in the hutch on Saturday with snake eyes, with the Garnets winning the home game 2-1.

“Having played this opponent on opening day in early September again last Saturday night, we knew there would be a lot of familiarity between the two teams,” said Rye Boys Varsity Soccer Jared Small. “We did a great job of dealing with the challenges they put our way, and the top bins goal from Jonas [van Beurden] in the 77th minute was an incredible way to win.”

Rye opened on the front foot, generating a couple excellent scoring opportunities in the opening minute. In the 4th minute, Jack Childs played a line splitting pass to van Beurden from the midfield into the final third. van Beurden’s cross into the middle found Tommy Broderick, who slipped the ball just to the left of the goal. Henry Field appeared to score in the 20th minute, driving a loose ball from 16 yards towards the top right corner, but Pelham goalkeeper Nolan Profett made the save of the night to keep the match knotted at 0-0. The breakthrough finally came in the 40th minute, when Joseph Chai collected a ball on the left side of the bottom of the penalty box, drove down the goal line, and drew a hard foul. van Beurden converted the penalty kick and the Garnets took a 1-0 lead into halftime.

Pelham wasted no time evening the match, scoring just 30 seconds into the second half on a ball that was played over the backline and finished by Christian Howell. Both teams had opportunities during the second half, but it was ultimately Rye that found the go-ahead goal. The game-winning sequence began when center back Charlie O’Rorke headed a Pelham clearance at midfield and Kieran Traynor collected the second ball. Traynor found Stijn Terlouw near the left sideline, and Terlouw calmly beat a defender and played a 40 yard cross field pass to van Beurden, who had ample space on the right flank. After taking two touches towards the top right corner of the box, he unleashed an absolute screamer into the upper-90.

The Garnets have a 14-3 season. Watch the replay. Rye will host #11 seed Pearl River in the Section 1 Class A Quarterfinals on Tuesday, October 25 at 3pm at Rye High School’s Nugent Stadium (watch it).