Boys Varsity Soccer Shucks the Corn Huskers

Rye Boys Varsity Soccer shucked the Corn Huskers of Yorktown on Saturday afternoon on the field of Port Chester High School for a 2 – 0 win.

“We were organized and strong from start to finish,” said Rye Boys Varsity Soccer Coach Jared Small. “There’s nothing better than a well-earned clean sheet. We also did some of our best attacking of the season and I really liked the way we played in the front third. Both goals were beautiful and a couple of the near misses were as well.”

Rye took an early 1-0 lead on a sequence that began in the back third. After defender Jack Gilroy dispossessed a Yorktown player, he played a quick pass to center midfielder Tyler Triolo. Triolo found Kieran Traynor near midfield and the ball eventually made its way to forward Tommy Broderick about 50 yards from the Yorktown goal. Broderick made a nifty move to beat a defender and then sprayed the ball out wide to Charlie Margiloff, whose tidy first touch set up an equally effective second touch–a delicately weighted loft from the top right of the box to a hard-charging Broderick. Broderick connected on the header from about 10 yards out and placed it out of reach into the upper right corner of the goal.

Rye nearly doubled the lead a few minutes later when another served ball created chaos in the box. Yorktown keeper Jozef Popovic made a brilliant double save, first denying Margiloff and then turning away Traynor’s follow-up.

The Garnets spent much of the afternoon on the ball, controlling possession for 63% of the match and putting together several prime scoring opportunities. Several of those opportunities came from the wing play of Kaden Zion, who proved both lethal on the counterattack and committed in the defending phase. As Yorktown attempted to find its way into the game during the second half, Rye’s Takumi Otani played an important defensive role in the middle of the park to help Triolo lock down the center of the midfield. Peter Wilmot, Kasen Scarperi, and Shun Nagata all were crucial components of the center midfield as well.

In the 70th minute, Rye looked to put the game to rest when goalkeeper Max Crothall calmly claimed a dangerous corner kick from Yorktown. After picking the ball out of the air amidst a crowd, Crothall immediately initiated the counter attack by throwing the ball to Broderick on the left wing. Going 2 v 1 with Joseph Chai and only one Yorktown defender, Broderick raced down the left side before feeding a perfect pass to Chai 40 yards from goal. Chai got everything right, using his first touch to drive straight at the goal, his second touch to set himself for a shot, and his third touch to unleash a shot that glanced off the inside of the right post and ricocheted into the box and out of harm’s way for Yorktown.

As Yorktown pressed hard in the final minutes, Rye’s backline also proved up to the task. Lex Cox made a series of strong tackles on the left side and initiated some dangerous counterattack of his own. Niklas Hofmann and Jack Gilroy were also solid throughout–confident in their tackles and definitive in their decision making.

Crothall made two highlight reel saves in the final 10 minutes to preserve the clean sheet, including a low dive to his left to deny a cleanly struck shot from 25 yards that seemed destined for the back of the net.

The Garnet season is now 7 – 2. Watch the replay. Varsity travels to Edgemont on Tuesday for a 4:30pm game.