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Nov 2, 2008: Rye FHC - New York City: 8-0
The most anticipated game of the season so far matching newly formed NYC (which included several former players from GFHC, the 2007/8 league champions) and Rye (2007/8 runners up) certainly lived up to its hype.
The play from the opening whistle was fast-paced but Rye was on top of their game creating several dangerous chances before Aico Van Nunnen opened the scoring with a beautiful deflection coming from a cross/shot on the right flank. Rye, hungry for more, quickly tripled their lead through smartly taken chances from Chris Cheetham and Sukhi Sandhu.
NYC was stunned and despite spirited offense from Haydon and Van Der Voort Rye's defense dealt comfortable with anything NYC could throw at it thanks to a commanding performances from J-C Bievre in his new role as sweeper and west coast connection Oliver Stubel between the sticks.
In the second half, Rye not content to sit on their lead quickly increased their advantage through David Geerts, Captain Patrick Stutz and a second from Cheetham with a powerful backhand finish.
Rye having secured victory continued to press forward and looked to have regained the fluency missing form their play for much of the early part of the season. Alex Anich seemed to be settling into his role at inside right, 37 year old Patrick Stutz was still providing plenty of pace on the left hand side and Sandhu’s technical ability on the right flank seemed to be ample proof that Rye’s season was now back on track. To cap of the scoring, David Geerts converted a well-struck reverse shot and Cheetham completed his hat-trick, finishing some fine interplay between Rye’s midfielders with a rocket directly above the keepers head into the roof of the net.
Rye’s 8-0 victory will continue to restore the confidence that was so lacking in previous games and Rye will be looking to head into the winter break in style with victory over Westchester next week.
Oct 26, 2008: Rye FHC - Greenwich FHC II: 6-0
After two disappointing losses, Rye FHC finally capitalized on several of its many chances and convincingly defeated Greenwich Field Hockey Club's 2nd team 6:0 (2:0). Still without their regular goalkeeper Oliver Stubel, Rye resorted to putting forward David Geerts in goal, and to great success. Geerts was quick on his feet, read the game well and, most importantly, kept a clean sheet. During Rye's previous two games, their defense was at times shaky and out of sync. However, with Peter Jones back in the team and JC de Bievre in the heart of the defense, the line of Jones, De Bievre, Eldrid Sequira and Dirk Zander looked very good today. Greenwich were allowed very few chances and Rye's defense frustrated most attacking efforts by keeping Greenwich' offense out of the D.
After captain Patrick Stutz missed two good chances in the first 10 minutes of the game, Rye's continuous pressure led to their first goal, a tap-in by Sukhi Sandhu. With one goal late in the first half and another one after the break, Stutz made up for his earlier misses and provided Rye with a comfortable 3:0 lead. In the second half, Rye's midfield of Chris Cheetham, Alex Anich, Adrian Missen and Max Rijkenberg was clearly too much for their Greenwich counterparts, and Rijkenberg, Harry Labana and Ali "Dr. Tab" Akhlaq added to Greenwich's woes by scoring one goal each to bring the final tally to 6.
Although there are certain areas of Rye's game that need improvement (such as the connection between midfield and offense, and the fluency of their attacks), this looked more like the Rye that we expected to see and that in its first game took care of Greenwich I, the team that won the league the last three years. However, Rye needs to keep improving their game. Their next match, against the newest team in the league, New York City Hockey Club, will show whether Rye can sustain this week's level. If they do, the earlier losses might start looking like the exception, and not the rule.Oct 19, 2008: Rye FHC - Tri-State Falcons: 2-4
Rye dropped their second consecutive game against Tri-State this weekend andin the process fell to 1-2 for the season. Missing a number of players, including goalkeeper Oliver Stubel Rye again disappointed with a sub par performance.
The game started well with Rye dominating possession and territory. Despite being somewhat profligate in front of goal, it seemed only a matter of time before Rye would open the scoring. Max Rijkenberg broke the deadlock with a well struck backhand shot from the inside right channel into the far bottom corner. It was just reward for a well worked move down the right flank. It
seemed this would be the catalyst for Rye to put away the game. However, after some substitutions at the mid-point of the first half Rye seemed tolose their fluency and command of the game. Tri-state made the most of this opportunity and pulled themselves back into the game, equalising from the penalty spot and finishing the half as the team in control.
The second half was a scrappy affair. Despite controlling possession Rye failed to create any clear cut chances letting themselves down with their execution in the final third of the field. Tri-State, seemingly happy to defend in numbers and play on the break extended their lead after some sloppy defending allowed an uncontested shot on substitute goalkeeper Rooks.
Rye rallied, quickly restoring parity at 2-2 when Chris Cheetham beat a couple of Tri-State defenders before sending a backhand shot into the bottom right hand corner. This led to a sustained period of Rye pressure with the Tri-State goalkeeper saving from Bievre and Geerts before Sandhu struck the post from close range. For the second week running Rye were punished for
their missed opportunities as Tri-State scored twice on the break in the closing stages.
Rye will be very disappointed with result after controlling possession for long periods of the game. They will look forward to welcoming back Stutz, Stubel, Jones, Missen and Van Nunen this weekend but will need to raise the
level of their performance if they are to live up to pre-season expectations.
Sept 28, 2008: Rye FHC - New York Islanders FHC: 2-4
Rye Hockey Club's record dropped to 1 and 1 after a disappointing 4-2 defeat at the hands of New York Islanders. A strong Islanders team started the game quickly and dominated possession in the early stages, with Rye struggling to integrate their new players and never finding their rhythm.
As the game wore on Rye began to assert themselves and David Geertsrebounded a penalty corner to halve the deficit. Within minutes of the restart, an uncharacteristic lapse in concentration immediately handed the advantage back to Islanders who scored on the stroke of half time to head into the break with a 3-1 lead.
Rye began the second half with renewed vigor and quickly took control of the game. However, Rye were wasteful with possession in the final third of the pitch, failing to convert a plethora of gilt-edged opportunities and squandering a number of penalty corners. Eventually the pressure told and Alex Anich converted Chris Cheetham's through ball to make it a one goal game. As Rye pushed for an equaliser, they failed to heed the warnings of previous Islanders' attacks and again committed too many players forward. This time the speedy Islanders' forward line made no mistake and restored their 2 goal cushion. There was still time on the clock for Rye to respond, but they were again too laissez-faire in their approach inside the Islanders' 25 and failed to get themselves back into the game.
All in all, it was a disappointing result for Rye who had fielded their strongest side in recent years. However, there were promising signs and Rye will be expecting to put together a strong set of results as their new additions gel with the rest of the team.
Oct 26, 2008: Rye FHC - Greenwich FHC I: 8-1
Rye Field Hockey Club made fluent start to the 2008/2009 season, beating last year’s regular season champions Greenwich FHC I with 8-1 (6-1). The result reflects some of the changes that have occurred during the offseason. Greenwich is in the process of digesting the departure of some of their top players who joined newly formed New York City Hockey Club (NYC) in an effort to balance the forces in New York’s field hockey scene. NYC will certainly be a strong and healthy addition to the league, and will help increase parity within NEFHA.
Rye on the other hand has not only gained the material support of a new headline sponsor, UK-based alternative investments house Man Investments (www.maninvestments.com), but has also succeeded in attracting an unusual amount of strong new players over the summer break. The new arrivals include Frederik Jonker who has joined the club from Kampong in Holland having moved to the US to pursue his Ph.D. at Yale and JC Bievre who joins Rye from Racing Club de France. In addition, making their debuts on Sunday were Alex Anich (midfielder, Australia), Shehan Francisco (forward, Sri Lanka) and Shailesh Khadapkar (forward, India). The upcoming fixture against New York Islanders will see the return of Rye regulars Aico Van Nunen, Adrian Missen and Peter Jones, completing what is likely to be the strongest Rye XI the league has seen in many years. The one remaining problem remains the keeper position following Oliver Stubel’s relocation to Los Angeles, at least until his return in February 2009.
Against Greenwich, the fresh blood in the team seemed to inspire Rye from the start. Greenwich had barely found time to get organized when Sukhi Sandhu fired the first shot from a narrow angle in the inside right channel, it was a perfectly placed strike giving Rye the critical first goal. Things even got better for Rye 2 minutes later when Patrick Stutz broke through to make it 2-0 with an “Argentinian” reverse stick shot from the top of the circle. 12 minutes into the game Rye exceeded their most optimistic pre-game hopes by making it 3-0 after Patrick Stutz stole the ball from Greenwich sweeper Jim Boothby and set up Harry Labana on the far post who made no mistake to deliver what proved to be the earliest K.O. Greenwich may ever have faced.
In increasing heat Rye then looked to consolidate possession and prevent a seemingly shocked Greenwich from regaining a foothold in the game. As the game wore on, debutant Alex Anich showed what important addition he may prove to be for the team. Anich brings a similar balance of defensive tenacity and offensive distribution as Rye’s center midfielder (but temporary sweeper) Chris Cheetham. It will be interesting to see what this duo is capable of when deployed in tandem in Rye’s “engine room.”
Greenwich regained their composure as the game moved into the later part of the first half, putting more pressure on Rye’s stand-in keeper (and President) Alexander Rooks. Following several short corners, Greenwich finally converted one of their now more frequent attacks to make it 3-1. The club’s response was quick and forceful. In the closing minutes of the half, a sustained period of pressure saw Hardaljeet “Sunny” Lobana and newcomer Shehan Francisco (2) score their first goals of the season making it 6-1.
In the second half neither team was able to change the momentum of the game. A shorthanded Greenwich was simply too exhausted to react, and in the now brutal heat and humidity Rye was happy to control the game and ensure the three points giving them their first winning start to a season in recent years. Sukhi Sandhu and Patrick Stutz added to their individual tallies to make it 8-1, closing a very convincing and promising start to this new season.
Rye: Alexander Rooks, Chris Cheetham, Dirk Zander, Eldrid Sequeira, Simon Singh, Alex Anich, Sukhi Sandhu (2), Max Rijkenberg, Patrick Stutz (2), Harry Labana (1), Sunny Lobana (1), Shailesh Khadapkar, Shehan Francisco (2), David Geerts