RYE – Field Hockey New York

All the ingredients were there. Top of the table Rye versus the defending champs in a Gladiator style, duke it out battle for pre-winter league supremacy. On our side we had the complete cast of swordsman and fighters – including a bearded Russell Crowe wannabe in central midfield – and on their side… well, let’s not take this analogy too far. Given Rye came away 7-0 victors on one of those days everything goes right, there’s no need to push it too far.

Pre-game everything went according to script, except Herr Kapitan who rambled on for way longer than usual, which means it was probably something important. I think it was about the game, but could have been about hops and barley – who knows? Anyway, something was clearly different, and at this point it became apparent: an unhealthy proportion of Germanic tribes in the Rye line-up. Fortunately this has not yet influenced our erratic style of play, but it’s certainly one to keep an eye on – and particularly the goal count, which hasn’t been affected yet.

Back to the hockey, and what can be said is goals, goals, goals. After a quite frankly weird first half – that is, a half where your team is losing in every statistic except for ‘goals’ – Rye found themselves 3-0 in front thanks twice to Stutz and once to Sandhu. Three real chances, three goals and no real idea how. Perfect exection of Plan C – the ‘in front by accident’ plan.

Herr Kapitan went for another lengthy soliliqoy at half-time. In a stroke of genius it was concluded that allowing opponents waltz about central midfield unchecked was counter-productive to our cause. Now that’s what I call a hockey brain! An increase of personnel into the middle by +1 was implemented and it worked beautifully.

Plan C almost miraculously transformed into Plan A. A dominant second half performance from Rye across the park saw four more goals. One beautiful finish from the top right of the D into the bottom left side net by Sandhu and a well taken low drag flick from Cheetham. Finally some improved finishing from central midfielder Anich; one rebound off the post cleanly flicked low into the net and one unstoppable shot into the roof of the net from the low right side of the D.

Three more valuable points making it seven wins from seven games going into the winter break . In fairness to Greenwich the scorline didn’t really reflect the game, since they put up a good fight and had a few chances – especially early on when the game was still undecided.

For Rye it is probably only complacency that is the number one enemy going into the second half of the season. See you all in March, and stay off the pies over Christmas.

The Rye first and second teams squared off against each other for the first time this season on Sunday at Clinton DeWitt in the Bronx.  It is a measure of how far the club has progressed over the last four years from a club, on occasion, struggling to get 11 players for all their league games to the current situation where Rye can now field two competitive sides every week.  Despite missing several regulars (including Peter Jones who was representing a U.S. Veterans team in an international tournament in Hong Kong), Rye 1 eventually ran out comfortable 4-1  winners with goals from Akhlaq, Cheetham and Sandhu (2).  The game was hard fought and will be of great encouragement for Rye 2 captain Harry Labana.  Max Rijkenberg and Pere Torres Puyalto are forming a good partnership in the centre of midfield, Puyalto also scored a fine goal and forced keeper Oliver Stubel to make a couple of good saves. Eldrid Sequeira stood out in defence and with a couple of regulars expected back for the next Rye 2 game, Labana will be confident Rye 2 can continue to stay close tot he playoff race.

In summary, it was an excellent day for the club.  Rye 1, with one game to go before the winter break remain unbeaten and top of the standings and Rye 2 in their first full season in NEFHA are looking stronger by the week and are a team that no opponent is taking lightly.

The fact that we had to chase polar bears off the pitch was a sure sign that this was New York going into winter. But there were other clues: a warm-up that really wasn’t, the jarring sensation of hitting something hard with a piece of four-by-two and an opponent that didn’t show up until after the scheduled start time.

In fairness to the Islanders we anticipated a late start. Hockey at 9am on Sunday is nobody’s idea of fun. So eventually, after a few inspiring cliches from our Captain and a lot of something else in German, the game went ahead. And let’s just say that while Rye were not exactly smoking hot, we were certainly warmer than the weather and eventually emerged victorious 6-1.

A few anxious moments early on – just to showcase Rye’s incomplete range of ball-retention qualities – however, on balance a game the men in yellow controlled. One interesting twist in this game was that we went for Plan B first, followed by Plan A late in the second half. Plan A is of course to score three or more goals early, keep the ball, and then score more goals to close out the game. Naturally that is too boring. Plan B involves the odd goal, the odd turnover and most of the time smashing the ball over the backline so we can practise our press.

Plan B was working beautifully. And then on about 50min, 2-0 became 2-1 on the back of a breakdown of the plan and a dubious penalty corner. But that’s life. With the game now on, and the Islanders now gunning for a point, we then decided Plan A would be worth a try. Fortunately this worked – and with four goals in the final 15min victory was secured. Particular hard work down the left from Jaspreet Singh broke the deadlock and opened the flood gates. 6-1 in the end with two goals each coming from Stutz, Dr (Akhlaq) Tab and Jaspreet Singh. Rye are now sitting pretty at 5 and 0.

Rye FHC moved to 4-0 on the season after another comfortable victory on Sunday, this time over GFHC II. Playing for the second consecutive week at Columbia Universitys’ Baker Field, Rye immediately put GFHC under intense pressure with Greenwich repeatedly struggling to clear their lines. By the time the breakthrough came, Rye could have been a couple of goals up had it not been for some poor execution in the Greenwich ‘D’. As it was, following a fine move down the right flank involving Sandhu and Nerincx, Akhlaq, ever the opportunist, converted from close range. Sanhdu quickly doubled the lead with a back hand strike of his own after beating a couple of Greenwich defenders. Rye, feeling they had Greenwich on the ropes continued to surge forward and it wasn’t long before Achlaq added his second. It was another right side move that opened up the Greenwich defense and and Achlaqs’ deflection left the ‘keeper with no chance.

Despite racing out to a 3-0 lead, the remainder of the second half proved to be frustrating for Rye. Looking assured at the back with Cheetham, Hogben and Cherifi starting to form a formidable partnership, Rye failed to convert their dominance into scoring chances. Greenwich defended well and were quick to get numbers behind the ball but Rye’s lack of patience hurt them on numerous occasions. Rye continually tried to force low percentage passes and wasted far too many opportunities in the final third of the pitch. The second half saw more of the same. Despite playing significant periods of the game deep in Greenwich territory, Rye could only muster four penalty corners and a handful of half chances that were comfortably dealt with by the Greenwich ‘keeper. Rye eventually added a fourth. Stutz, lively as ever, made a quick break down the left after a quickly taken free hit before threading a through ball to Achlaq who duly completed his hat-trick. Greenwich added a consolation goal in the final minute, a deserved reward for their hard work but by then the game was decided.

Rye will move on to game five of the fall half of the season with mixed feelings. While results have been good, the quality of play has not been of the standard Rye has come to expect. With both New York Islanders and GFHC I still on the schedule in the coming weeks, Rye know they will need to step up their level of play if the intend to remain unbeaten.

The third round of this year’s fall season brought a rematch of what has
become a highly charges affair between the reigning champions Rye and the
back-to-back league playoff finalist and former champion Tristate. Both
teams arrived at Columbia’s Baker Field unbeaten this season. For Rye this
was the opportunity to get some distance in the standings between an
uncomfortable opponent that in the past has proven to be a stumbling block
even in most surprising circumstances. However, this Sunday did not turn out
to be one of these days. The difference in commitment could not have been
larger. On Rye’s side, a 16-men squad arrived to fight for remaining spots
in the team’s first selection which is to be decided before next weekend’s
round. Tristate on the other hand showed up without their regular keeper.
The end result of 8-1 (5-1) properly reflects the balance between a full
force Rye team which played solid hockey but missed crucial opportunities to
make this a 2-digit affair, and a Tristate squad which despite being without
a chance to ever win this game fought relentlessly until the end and sold
their skin as dear as humanly possible even under worst-case conditions.

On Rye’s side some of the latest additions to the roster gave their NEFHA
debut. Thibault Nerincx from Belgium, Pere Torres Puyalto from Spain and
Rye-veteran Pepe “El Cubano” all brought their skills to the game and fit in
nicely from the start.

After the first 3 games Rye I tops the NEFHA standings with full points and
a 23-3 goal difference. This convincing start is no coincidence. While Rye
for years fielded a handful of very skilled players in their ranks, the team
lacked the depth of their main opponents Tristate and Greenwich FHC. The
recent additions of Jaspreet Singh, Alex Anich, Lennart Cherifi, Matt Hogben
and others has completed the roster in a crucial way. With the prospect of
being able to welcome back keeper Oliver Stubel to the team next weekend the
current Rye roster looks the strongest in years.

Rye I scorers: Cheetham (2), Stutz (2), Rijkenberg,
Puyalto, Akhlaq, Anich

Rye managed to dish out a 3-3 tie, after being 3-0 down at one point.
It was an exceptional display that shocked the full strength islanders a bit, even though Rye started with 10 men.

On a balmy autumn Saturday in the Bronx, Rye FHC continued their impressive start to the season with a commanding 8-2 victory over New York City.

Facing a much stiffer test than in their opening game, Rye started quickly with a penalty corner goal from Cheetham after 2 minutes. Dominating the early exchanges, Rye quickly added to their tally with a second from Cheetham and goals from Sandhu, Halim and Stutz. However, New York City, playing in their second NEFHA season were not prepared to lie down and struck twice in quick succession through Tom Sheridan and new addition Harry Jawanda.

With a 5-2 lead, Rye began the second half knowing they could take nothing for granted. A far more controlled performance from Rye after the break starved NYC of possession and nullified their counter-attack threat. Lennart Cherifi stood out in defense with a number of fine tackles but more pleasing for Rye was their execution in the final third of the pitch. Many of last weeks mental errors were corrected and Rye will be pleased with the number of penalty corners and goal shots they created. With the life choked out of NYC’s attacking ambitions, Rye put the finishing touches on an important victory with a third goal from Cheetham and further strikes from Sandhu and Singh.

Rye will go into their bye week pleased with their first two games but knowing there are tougher games on the horizon. Up next, in a repeat of last years Championship game is Tristate Falcons. This will be a real barometer of how far Rye have progressed this season.

09/13/2009
Rye FHC started the 2009/10 season in fine form sealing a comfortable 7-0 victory against a weak Westchester side.  Rye started the game quickly with a number of well executed moves down the right and by the time Ali Akhlaq converted from close range to open the scoring, the Rye forwards could have had two or three.   Chris Cheetham added a brace in quick succession, the first from the penalty spot after Patrick Stutz was cynically taken down as he was about to pull the trigger and the second a well executed penalty corner.

Rye continued to dominate possession but some poor execution limited Rye to two more goals.  Sukhi Sanhu rifled a low shot past the ‘keeper from the inside right channel and Amr Halim finished another well worked move down the right to open his Rye account on debut.

The second half proved similarly frustrating for Rye.  Despite a huge advantage in possession time and territory, poor decision making and execution in the Westchester circle limited Rye to a pair of second half goals.  After squandering a couple of fine chances earlier in the game, Alex Anich found the top corner with a strike from 10 yards out when Max Rijkenberg unselfishly let a Cheetham through ball run through to him.  Akhlaq finished the scoring with another close range finish after Stutz again had caused problems down Westchester’s left flank and found his team mate unmarked four yards from goal.

Rye’s NEFHA debutants all performed well.  Matt Hogben ably took over at right back from the departed James Richardson, Lennart Cherifi provided additional stability to the defence and Amr Halim added some more pace to the forward line.  On balance, Rye will be happy with 3 points and a comfortable win but will know better performances will be needed as the season rolls on.  With a talented group of players and expected return of regulars Jones, Missen and Van Nunen, expectations will be high.

It turned out to be a big Sunday for the Swiss.

Roger Federer set the tone early in the New York morning by finally overcoming the last obstacle to immortality in Paris. For Rye FHC, the June league playoffs had become the club’s personal “Roland Garros” over the last 10 years. The title was missed summer after summer, often by final defeats against our club’s “Rafa Nadal”, Greenwich FHC. But 2009 brought a smashing end to this frustrating series, with Rye being crowned NEFHA playoff champions after an indisputable 5-2 victory over Tri-State Falcons, the defending champions. It was Tristate which delivered the first upset of the day by eliminating regular season winners Greenwich 2-1 in an exact repetitionof last year’s semifinal outcome. Rye faced regular season’s 3rd ranked team, the New York Islanders, in their semifinal. The tactical road map was to control the Islanders fast forwards who have caused much damage to Rye in the season’s first encounter back in October. Rye made some personal changes to address the threat: James Richardson and Chris Cheetham, two physical players, joined the Rye defense, supporting Ageless Wonder Peter Jones and Eldrid Sequeira.

David Geerts gave a superb playoff debut as keeper. Rye was in control of the game from the start and created immediate danger in the Islander’s circle, leading to an early series of short corner opportunities. But it took Adrian Missen’s well-placed shot following the 4th short corner to take the initial pressure off Rye. The early lead cemented Rye’s dominance and it was the Islanders who now needed to up their creativity. This opened the field for Rye’s fast counter attacks: Shortly before half time Rye’s Australian midfield engine Alex Anich connected with Akhlaq Tabassam and Sukhi Sandhu, who went on to penetrate the circle from the right and find Max Rijkenberg completely free on the penalty spot. The Dutch forward, who had just entered the game 15 seconds earlier, made no mistake and buried the ball into the roof of the goal. The second half of the game saw a continuationof the recipe that worked so well for Rye: The Islanders, unable to build up their game, continuously handed over the ball to Rye’s midfielders who turned around to quickly launch the rapid counter attacks. Rye produced several more short corners in that fashion, one of which was converted by Patrick Stutz to seal the Islander’s fate and secure Rye’s final berth.

A few Rye players must have thought of last year’s final when the gruesome heat took its toll on the team against a Tristate squad that was much better prepared for playing under such conditions. Again, Tristate enjoyed the luxury of an extra two hours of rest, but this turned out to be an advantage for Rye. Tristate completely missed the start of the game and found itself overwhelmed by the Rye offensive. The first half of this final playoff game saw some of the best hockey that Rye has produced in many years. Patrick Stutz opened the score 2 minutes into the game with a mis-hit turned lob which somehow found its way over Tristate’s keeper into the net. This was all the luck Rye needed in this game. Attack after attack rolled into Tristate’s 25-yard zone, producing several short corners and delicate moments in front of the Tristate goal. Chris Cheetham and Adrian Missen converted a short corner each, putting Rye up 3-0 20 minutes into the game. Sukhi Sandhu made it 4-0 with a skillful close-angle shot, and Patrick Stutz delivered the final blow minutes before half-time by dribbling around the Tristate keeper and buring the ball in the right far corner. Rye shifted into a lower gear for the second half which gave Tristate some room to get better into the game. However, the 2 late goals only had cosmetic value and could not derail Rye’s championship train. After 7 years in New York, the “other Swiss” finally lifted the so longed for trophy for the Rye Fieldhockey Club, who in the current composition is at its strongest in years.

Semifinal: Rye FHC – NY Islanders 3-0 (2-0)
Goals: Missen, Rijkenberg, Stutz Final: Rye FHC – Tristate Falcons 5-2 (5-0)
Goals: Stutz (2), Missen, Cheetham, Sandhu For Rye played: David Geerts, Peter Jones,
Patrick Stutz, James Richardson, Eldrid Sequeira, Alex Anich, Christopher Cheetham, Sukhi Sandhu,
Jas Preet Singh, Akhlaq Tabassam, Adrian Missen, Maximilian Rijkenberg, Simon Singh, Alexander Rooks

As spring turns to summer and focus moves from the hockey field to the beach, Rye FHC can look back on their 2008/9 campaign with a great deal of satisfaction. The club took great leaps forward both on the field and
through expanded membership.

First and foremost, the results were the most pleasing aspect of the season After a rocky 1-2 start to the NEFHA season, Rye FHC put together a string of fine performances winning 9 of the remaining 10 league games to finish in
second place. Their only reversal was against Champions Greenwich who finished a single point ahead of Rye. This excellent form was continued into the post-season with comfortable victories over New York Islanders
(3-0) in the semi final and Tri-State Falcons (5-2) in the championship game. It was a fitting reward for the hard work First team captain Patrick Stutz and club President Alex Rooks have put in on and off the field in
recent years. It was also a much needed remedy for the bad memories veterans of recent Rye campaigns have following championship game defeats in the preceding two years.

This seasons success wasn’t limited to NEFHA. Rye FHC successfully defended their title at the JKF Memorial Tournament in Virginia Beach beating the Toronto Lions in a penalty competition in the final for the second
consecutive year. The Rye/Toronto rivalry has become quite intense over the years with the two evenly matched sides meeting in a number of finals with Rye taking the spoils the last three times the sides have met. The one
tournament where Rye left empty handed was the Big Apple International Indoor tournament in February. Rye fielded a slightly weakened team due to injury but still managed a run to the semi final where they were eliminated
by a strong Philadelphia side. Rye last won this tournament in 2007 and will be looking forward to the opportunity to take back the title this winter.

One of the biggest developments for the club this year was the establishment of a second team. The tireless recruiting of Rooks and the recent success of the club has led to a number of new additions. The increased competition
for fist team places has certainly helped elevate the standard of hockey and the ability to offer regular competitive games for players at a slightly lower standard has confirmed Rye as one of the premier clubs in the Tri-State area (and one of only two fielding multiple sides).

In 2009/10 Rye will be looking to continue their progress. The core of the first team is returning with the only loss being James Richardson, who will return to the U.K. after completing his Masters Degree with a couple of
medals for the trophy cabinet. Oliver Stubel will return from injury/work assignment on the west coast to provide stability in goal and with further additions rumoured to be on their way, Rye will be looking forward to the challenge of defending their NEFHA and JFK titles.