The first time Rye and Eastchester met this fall, it would take everything that the Garnets had—plus a late goal from Felix Wismer—for them to edge the Eagles in a hard-fought road win. 

Monday afternoon’s rematch, however, was a different story entirely, as Rye—buoyed by an early goal—controlled the game from the outset and triumphed over the Eagles with a handy 2-0 victory.

It didn’t take long for the Garnets to find an advantage on Monday afternoon, when Liam Harrington collected a pass from Kaden Zion and found the net just two minutes into regulation to give the Garnets an early lead. 

“I don’t think the defenders saw me coming, they were a little slow to react and I just jumped on it,” said Harrington. “I saw the keeper out of the corner of my eye, just tried to put it around him, and it went in.”

Harrington acknowledged that taking on a talented Eagles team comes with its own set of challenges, as the Garnets found out first-hand in September, when they had to rally back from an early deficit of their own to put Eastchester away. 

“Getting the first goal was huge because we knew we had to bring it home today,” said Harrington. “We’ve had a lot of games that have gone our way but could have gone another way, so we wanted to show what we can do.”

The Garnets held a 1-0 lead until the second half, when Finn Kearney found the net off another assist from Kaden Zion to add some insurance. 

It’s insurance that the Garnets haven’t needed as of late, as Monday’s win marked the fifth straight shutout win for Rye. Ayden Breen made five saves in the win to keep a clean sheet, and said that the Garnets take a certain pride in their ability to slow down opposing attackers this year.

“You can win games by scoring goals, but you can’t lose if you don’t concede,” said Breen. “That’s what we try to do every game, we try to keep it tight.” 

With the loss, Eastchester falls to 4-7-1 on the year and find themselves in the midst of a three-game skid. The Eagles will look like right the ship next week when they take on Bronxville on Oct. 15. Rye, on the other hand, is currently 10-2 and will take on unbeaten Byram Hills on Oct. 9, after press time. 

According to Breen, the last stretch before the playoffs begin will be an important time for the Garnets, as they look to round into form as they look to make deep run in Section 1. 

“Eastchester has a bunch of good players and so does every team that we’re going to play, so they’re going to get their shots,” said Breen. “We need to work better as a unit and we need to continue to communicate better.”

Contact: sports@hometwn.com