RYE – Field Hockey New York

On a cold and grey Spring morning, Rye 1 gathered on the newest addition pitch to the NEFHA portfolio, Drew University, to again face last year’s final opponent, Tristate. Rye welcomed back long serving players Aico van Nunen and Milan Tyburec, confident with these reinforcements that they could put together a win.

In the knowledge that the style of the pitch would limit the use of the team’s silky skills and favor well executed, basic hockey, Rye put together a game plan for dealing with the ever swift Tristate players. A combination of poor execution of the plan and failure to be decisive in the attacking circle saw Rye fall behind to a smartly finished, counter attacking goal by Randy Christie.

Not content to be behind given that Rye had 80% of possession, central midfielder Alex Anich started to push forward into the attacking circle put pressure on the weakening Tristate defense. A great ball in from Chris Cheetham saw Anich pick up the loose ball, quickly turn and find the ever present Akhlaq ‘Dr Tab’ Tabassam on the penalty spot for the equalizer. With the momentum swinging back in their favor, Rye’s midfield continued to work hard with Sukhi Sandhu connecting yet again with Dr Tab for a deftly deflected second goal.

2-1 up at half time was a relief for an underperforming Rye side. With the task set by a fired up half time speech by Captain Patrick Stutz, Rye went out to the second half seeking the first goal put all the pressure back on Tristate. It was Stutz himself that managed to create the decisive run and beautiful cross to find Dr Tab, yes…again, on the penalty spot for the 3-1.

Despite the breathing space, Rye continued to put pressure back on itself through unneeded errors in defense and turnovers in the midfield and forward line. However, Rye continued to press and was rewarded with a number of penalty corners. It was through one of these that Cheetham was able to pick up his own rebound off the keeper to slot home the 4-1 and wrap the game up for Rye.

With too many unforced errors, Rye 1 has a lot to work on to be able to stay at the top of its game for the remaining Spring half of the season.