The Rye Girls Varsity Soccer team is unlike any other Rye High School sports team. The girls won last year’s state championships for the first time since 2007 and made another deep run into the playoffs this year. While their success on the field is inspiring, it is their team chemistry that makes them the shining example for all Rye athletes.
From their long bus rides to post-game team dinners, the girls spend countless hours together each week. Their practices not only consist of hard work and drills but bonding as friends and teammates. Senior Captain Mary Sack said, “We are so close off the field and that really translates on the field.”
Throughout the years, the girls have created many pre-game team traditions. When driving upstate for games, the girls play fun, up-beat tunes to pass the time. The girls credit their road trip playlists, which consist of pop and rap music with artists such as Nicki Minaj and Childish Gambino, with getting everybody excited for the game ahead. According to Senior Captain Bowyn Brown, the girls also sing high energy pop songs underneath the bleachers to get ready before home games. The girls also braid each other’s hair before every game and put their feet off the floor to make a wish every time it’s an angel number, like 11:11.
The Rye Girls soccer breezed past the competition this season, obtaining a record of 18-3-1, the second best in the last twenty years. Still, the Garnets faced their share of adversity along the way. “Our hardest game was definitely against Pearl River because of their aggression. They had a wild goal from near the halfway mark with about 5 minutes left that sent us into overtime,” said Senior Captain Lyla Keenan.
On November 6th, the girls headed to Nyack to play New Paltz High School in the New York State regional semifinals, who they defeated with a final score of 4-0. This allowed them to advance to the Regional Finals, where they won 6-0 over Chenango Valley on Saturday, November 10th.
The girls’ season came to an end at the state semifinal game, where they were defeated by 3-seed New Hartford High School, with a final score of 2-1. The Garnets took the lead in the first half of the game with a goal and assist by sophomores Mary Ebeling and Shira Rand, respectively, but were overmatched by New Hartford in the second half. “The season didn’t finish the way we wanted it to, but we are proud of our accomplishments—league, section, and regional champs—and continuous hard work throughout the fall,” said Bowyn Brown.
The girls have no doubt that their success will continue next season, even with nine seniors departing. Senior Lyla Keenan said, “[The team] has so much talent in all classes and promising freshmen trying out, so they should be strong and optimistic for next year’s season.”
