RYE – Field Hockey New York

Sunday, Baker Field – On possibly the last hot weekend of the year, Rye put in another fine performance against Westchester to remain unbeaten at the top of the standings going into a bye week. Despite missing a couple of regulars, Rye continued where they left off in the previous game against NYC, moving the ball quickly and creating numerous chances. Lee opened the scoring with a fine finish after a quick interchange of passes between Cheetham and Anich and from that point on the floodgates opened. Westchester were unable to cope with the movement and pace of the Rye forward line and the scoreboard was soon ticking over with Groeneveld adding a couple of nice finishes from open play, Lee increasing his tally and Cheetham and Anich both getting on the scoresheet from penalty corners.

The second half produced more of the same. Strube and Anich, tireless in midfield, quickly dealt with any Westchester forays into Rye territory and Sandhu continued to cause problems for Westchester defenders. Despite the score line and the temperature, Rye’s work rate was excellent for the entire match and they were rewarded with a number of fantastic goals. Rye will also be heartened by the fact they were able to produce such a fine performance in the absence of Stutz, Moore, Jones and Civico. With strong debuts from Von Ritter and Heesters as well as Beckers returning to the line up, Rye have their strongest squad in years and will be looking forward to the challenges posed by GFHC and New York Islanders (second and third in the standings respectively) in their final two games before the winter break.

Rye FHC: Johstone, Cheetham, Heesters, Von Ritter, Cherifi, Strube, Anich, Sandhu, Lee, Groeneveld, Beckers