RHS Spring Sports Preview

– By Jim Byrne and Melanie Cane –

Boys’ Lacrosse

Head coach Brian Dooley and his Garnets are going to take the 2007 season one goal at a time. The ultimate achievement would be winning a State Title – something they fell two wins shy of in 2006 – but Rye knows that in order to do that, they’ll have to take care of business first.

“We hope to be successful this year as we continue to play a tough schedule,” said Dooley. “Our schedule consists of the best teams in the area, such as Yorktown Heights, John Jay, Lakeland and Mahopac.”

Once the Garnets navigate their way through the regular season, they will attempt to win their third consecutive Class C Sectional title.

“We look to at least repeat what we did last year,” said senior co-captain TJ Smith. “We actually want to go further than that, but our first goal is to win the Sectional title.”

Along with defenseman Smith, the Garnets return an imposing senior class. The other captain is Colin Hart, who is back as goalie. Eddie Bouton will help Smith and Hart out on defense, while Matt Donahue will be on the attack. Midfielders Connor O’Grady and D.J. Virtue round out the stars of the team.

Rye finished 19-3 in 2006, winning eight straight games before falling, 11-6, in the State Semifinals against Long Island powerhouse Cold Spring Harbor.

Girls’ Lacrosse

Coming off of back-to-back State Semifinals appearances, the Garnets will attempt to take it a step or two further in 2007. Things will be different this year, with a new head coach in town and a great challenge in Class A regular season play.

Maureen O’Shea will take the helm as head coach of Rye this season, replacing Dennis Hurlie. O’Shea is a 1971 graduate of Rye High School, and last coached girls’ lacrosse at Convent of the Sacred Heart from 2000 to 2005.

“We’ve got a good group of girls,” said O’Shea. “They are all great athletes. It’s going to be a challenging season, but the girls are excited about it.”

The season will indeed be challenging, as the Garnets will be pitted against Yorktown Heights, Lakeland and Mahopac, all perennial heavyweights. Fortunately, Rye will still play in the Class C playoff bracket, where they will receive an automatic No. 1 seed because of the grueling regular season schedule.

Regular season play will be a trial by fire for the Garnets, who graduated only three players last June and returns nine seniors. Among those seniors, Casey Dianni and Carly Miller will take on the roles of co-captains, and will look to lead Rye through the choppy waters of Class A. In the fall, Miller will be headed to Villanova to play lacrosse, and senior Norah Kennedy will be attending and playing at Cornell.

Baseball

The Garnets finished 6-17 last year, but will benefit from a drop down to Class B from A in 2007. Still, head coach Jared Small will have his work cut out for him with only five returning seniors. Eight players graduated from last year’s team.

Captains this year are seniors Michael Schorr and Tim Shaughnessy. The rest of the team consists of seniors Ted Dempsey, Darrin Carducci and Tyler Reisner; juniors Matt Dunn, Remy Totten, Matt Cohen, James Bonsall, Anthony Visci and Kevin Kennedy; and sophomores Christopher Triano, Michael Amaturo, Paul Derderian, Brogan Matthews, Matt O’Neill and Brendan Turrell.

First pitch is Monday, March 26, at Rye Neck.

Softball

As far as experience goes, Rye softball has even less than Small’s baseball team. Much less, in fact.

Head coach Alex Tejera saw 14 seniors from his 15-girl team graduate in 2006, and has just one senior for the coming season. Hannah Simonson, the lone senior, will serve as captain at second base. Kira Hessekiel will be the Garnets’ main pitcher, and is one of three sophomores on the team. There are also four juniors and six freshmen.

Juniors Amanda Buckley, Erin Linehan, Anne Niehaus and Maura Kelly make the jump to varsity this year, and will gain experience immediately.

Rye finished 12-14 in 2006, but like the baseball team will be moving down from Class A to B. The regular season begins Tuesday, April 10, at Albertus Magnus.

Golf

There are two things you have to know about Rye golf. One is that they have won 12 consecutive league titles, and the other is that head coach Pat Romano is back to hopefully win No. 13.

And then, significantly, there is senior co-captain Max Buckley. Buckley was an All State player last year, and finished in the top 20 at the Cornell State Championships. Romano believes that he could be the best golfer in all of Section 1. Senior Brian Cady is the other co-captain. Cady qualified for the State Championships in his sophomore year, but failed to reach them last year. He will undoubtedly be looking to make it back in his final year at Rye.

Junior Sam Weiss is the No. 3 golfer, and had a very strong year in 2006. Sophomore Mark Mumford will play at No. 4.

Romano tries to schedule the stiffest competition for his players, and he is looking forward to a couple of matches with local rivals Harrison and one with Rye Country Day School.