Rye’s girls lacrosse team may have a few new faces in the mix this year, but for the Garnets, the expectations never change. 

On Friday, March 27, the Garnets won their second-straight game to start the year, topping perennial Class D powerhouse Bronxville 16-7 in what head coach Michelle Mason feels is a good indication of how just how tough Rye can be this year.

Beau Whaling led the Garnets with five goals on the day, while both Mary Ebeling and Pepper Paloma recorded hat-tricks in another solid offensive performance for Rye. But Mason said that it was the defensive effort—led by a three-save effort from Dylan Erlich—that was perhaps most encouraging given the amount of turnover the Garnets experienced in the off-season on the back end.

“Our defense, including our goalie, is basically brand new,” said Mason. “So coming off Monday’s game against Pelham into today, we were just so locked in, executing, and doing what we needed to do defensively. We have so many threats on offense and in the midfield, so that defensive piece is going to be really big for us.” 

Mason noted that the team’s season-opening win against Pelham was something of an eye-opener despite the eventual 15-7 Garnets win. Over the course of that game, Mason saw her team begin to gel in real time, something that continued on Friday, as Rye was able to stave off quite a few Bronxville attempts to cut into the sizable lead. 

“On Monday, I’m watching the game, and it was a little bit nerve-racking because we were actually trailing Pelham, which is something that really hasn’t happened the last few years,” said Mason. “But then today, we were so locked in, we were executing, and we were doing everything we needed to do defensively. 

“We know we have so many threats on offense and in the midfield,” Mason added. “So the biggest piece for us is going to be playing good defense.”

The Garnets will be down in Florida this week getting some work in but will be back in action locally on April 7, when they host Wilton at Nugent Stadium. 

As Rye looks ahead to the remainder of the schedule, Mason said that the team will continue to look for ways to gel in the hopes of challenging for another Class C title come of the end of the year. 

“We’re working on a lot of ball-movement and things like that at practice, just focusing on our own preparation rather than worrying about what anyone else is doing,” said Mason. “We just need to stick to our stuff and we’ll be ok.”