Lead Stories, Sports

Eagles split first two games

On Oct. 13, the Eastchester boys’ soccer team dropped its 2020 home-opener, falling to perennial Class AA contender White Plains 2-0. But according to Eagles’ head coach Darwin Gramajo, the final score of Tuesday’s game wasn’t nearly as important as the strides he’s seen his team make over the last few weeks.

Although Eastchester controlled the ball for much of the first 40 minutes, the Tigers were able to strike before halftime on a goal by Eric Ramirez. Alan Meneses extended the White Plains lead after the intermission, and White Plains goalkeeper Tom Pisapia kept a clean sheet with five stops on the afternoon.

Carlo Ricchiuti sends a ball back down the field on Oct. 13. Eastchester coach Darwin Gramajo was impressed with Ricchiuti’s play against a potent White Plains attack. Photo/Mike Smith

Despite the loss, however, Gramajo was pleased with the way his Class A team hung with large-school White Plains, which came into the year ranked by most pundits as one of the top-10 clubs in Section I.

“We had stretches for 10 minutes where we’d play very well, and I don’t think we were overmatched,” Gramajo said. “We just made a few mistakes to cost ourselves the game, but we learned that when you play against a team of that caliber, you just can’t get away with that.”

The Eagles fared considerably better in their season opener last Saturday, as they blanked league rival Harrison 4-0 on the strength of two-goal performances from both Michael Harrigan and Rintaro Miyawaki.

Gramajo credited Eastchester’s quick start in that game to his veteran team’s ability to adjust to the uncertain and truncated preseason schedule.

“We came into this year with a good amount of juniors and seniors, guys we knew what we expected from this season,” he said. “So the big question, especially with the shortened season, is how are the new guys going to fit in?”

With no preseason scrimmages, Gramajo and other coaches have been forced to get creative in finding ways to get newer players acclimated to the speed of the varsity game. Gramajo admits that although the Eagles’ shutout win over Harrison gave him the ability to use his reserves liberally, Tuesday’s tense showdown with White Plains did not afford him that same luxury.

“The plan, because it’s a shortened season, is to go back to practice and get the guys who didn’t play a ton of minutes more touches, give them more of a run,” he said. “And for the other guys, set up different drills and separate them.”

The Eagles will be back in action on Oct. 15, when they will honor their senior class prior to a game against Pelham. And even though there has been no definitive word on whether or not a Section I tournament will be held this year, Gramajo is hoping that his team continues to gel over the next few weeks with a potential postseason run on their minds.

“Our first goal is just getting these 12 games in,” he said. “And if we’re able to finish the season and have a sectional tournament, we’re hoping to make a deeper push than last year, when we made the quarterfinals.”