Boys Soccer Explodes for 8 Goals to Claim Section Championship
The #4 Rye Boys Soccer team picked the right time to smash their season high offensive output, dropping a snowman on the #2 Ardsley Panthers. Kaden Zion scored a hat trick and Alex Rojas netted two of his own in the 8-3 win, which clinched the Garnets a Section 1 Class A champipnship.
“This was a really well-earned championship,” Head Coach Jared Small told MyRye.com in his detailed postgame report. “We’ve consistently made deep runs in the playoffs over the past 7 years, and it was particularly rewarding to win a chip this year given the quality of opponents we faced – particularly in the quarterfinals and semifinals in order to even make it to today’s final match.”
Despite being official underdogs in the match, Rye came out with significantly more intensity in the first half, and took a 2-0 lead into the break. Rojas and Zion both scored their first goals of the match in the first 40 minutes, including Rojas’ crafty chip shot goal in just the ninth minute.
In the 48th minute, the Garnets scored again on a corner kick, as Peter Wilmot found Zion in the box, who used his potent head to add on to the lead.
From there, the Panthers began to push. Keeper Aydan Breen had to make a diving save in the 50th minute before watching two shots fly past him in quick succession to cut the lead to 3-2. Moments after, a shot in his direction whizzed just past the post – inches away from tying the game.
Facing adversity, Rye looked to its leaders to right the ship, and those veterans came through. Zion completed the hat trick on an assist from Rojas, before Rojas buried another of his own to complete the three-point night. Although the Panthers converted a penalty kick in the 67th minute, the Rye flurry had all but sealed the deal. Liam Harrington, Felix Wismer, and Nico Etinger all added on as the clock wound down to complete the touchdown and two-point conversion.
“It’s exciting to see the group win games in so many different ways,” Small continued. “The first round match with Pelham was a real grind-it-out affair with the loan goal in the dying moments of the match. The quarterfinal match goal came early and required us to play intelligently and with physicality to defend the lead. The semifinal was an incredible performance… Today was a wild affair and at most the 2nd time we’ve ever scored 8 goals in a single match. We were inches away from surrendering what could have been a devastating third goal in the 57th minute when we were up 3-2, and ultimately we found the next gear and put the game away with some fantastic finishing.”
Rye (15-4) flies high into their next match, a showdown against Section 9 winner Our Lady of Lourdes on Wednesday, November 6 at 7:15pm. The game is set for a neutral site – Henry Hudson High School’s turf in Montrose. The Garnets will continue to play as long as they continue to win.
Watch the win vs Ardsley here (note: SportsEngine All-Access account required). View the completed Section 1 Class A bracket here. See Lourdes’ path to their Section 9 championship here (note: the Class A bracket is on page 2).
