Rye Boys Varsity Soccer took some extra polish over the Harrison and bit the Huskies on Wednesday with a 4 – 1 win.
“We came out of the gate strong with two goals in the first three minutes, and then spent some long stretches absorbing significant pressure from Harrison’s front four,” said Rye Boys Varsity Soccer Coach Jared Small. “In most matches we are on the ball more than the opponent and not surprisingly given the quality of the opponent the script was flipped today. It was gratifying to see that even with only 42% possession we could score in several different ways and withstand some high quality attacking from the opponent without panicking.”
The Garnets started on the front foot, with Kasen Scarperi finishing a well-taken corner from Ollie Lincoln only two minutes into the match. One minute later, Rye strung together a series of passes beginning in the back third of the field when defender Jack Gilroy won a tackle on the right side. Center back Niklas Hoffman advanced the ball to Kieran Traynor, who made a simple pass to the right flank for Kaden Zion. Still 70 yards from the opponent’s goal, Zion found center midfielder Shun Nagata and Nagata then played a ball into space for Tommy Broderick around midfield. Broderick eluded two defenders and played Charlie Margiloff into space. Margiloff’s cross was initially deflected and as it bounced away from the Harrison goal, Traynor fired a one-time sizzler into the lower left net from 25 yards out.
Harrison cut the lead in half on a well executed corner kick less than 8 minutes later and continued to pose threats through much of the first portion of the match. Rye goalkeeper Max Crothall put in a sensational performance with two point blank saves, the first of which would not have counted due to an offsides call but nonetheless helped the 6’2 keeper establish his command of the match.
In the 20th minute, Rye took a 3-1 lead when Margiloff shook off two defenders and stepped into a cross from Nagata. And then only three minutes into the second half, Broderick found Margiloff on the left wing and Margiloff played a nice left footed cross to the right wing for Zion. Zion drove at his defender and then deposited Rye’s fourth goal of the night into the upper right corner.
Rye defenders Jack Gilroy and Niklas Hoffman put in the finest matches of their varsity career to date with outstanding tackles, concise decision-making, and accurate interpretation of the match from start to finish.
Varsity’s record moves to 3 – 0. Watch the replay. The Gemstones travel to Tappan Zee on Tuesday for a 6:00pm game.
