Rye Bounces Harrison Lacrosse From Playoffs

The underdog Harrison lacrosse team did all the right things during the first quarter of Thursday's Section I Class B playoff game against their biggest rivals, but the fifth seeded Rye Garnets did things better in the second, third and fourth quarters on their way to a decisive 16-4 victory that ended the Husky season.

Harrison executed their gameplan perfectly in the first quarter, keeping the ball away from Rye and dictating the tempo of the game. By dominating the clock and keeping the ball in front of the Rye goal Harrison was able to keep Rye out transition and slow down their attack.

“The first quarter we played exactly the way I wanted us to play,” said Harrison coach Bruce Kinisky. “We were trying to slow the pace down and we were trying to hold position. We must have had the ball in the first quarter 10-11 minutes—and then we didn’t do it the second, third, and fourth quarter.”

After the teams played to a 1-1 draw for most of the first, Rye scored a late goal to take a 2-1 lead into the first break.

The late goal would start a downward spiral for Harrison. Rye fired shots toward the Harrison net at will in the second quarter as the Garnets outscored the Huskies 7-0 to lead 9-1 at the half.

“I think we just had to get our clearing game going,” said Rye senior Briggs Barton. “We got the ball away in transition a little bit. They got a lot of positions and once we really got our clearing game going in the second quarter we really started to get some more offensive positions and cash in on them.”

Harrison began to show signs of life in the second half, as Robert Waldman and Drew Pritchard scored back-to-back goals just minutes into half. But after a timeout Rye scored the next seven goals, essentially ending the game and the Harrison season.

“We have a great defense, we don’t really give up a lot of shots,” said Barton. “We like to protect the crease and not give up those high percentage shots.”

Nine Garnets scored in the contest including Barton, who finished with three, and Gregory Stern, who had a game-high four goals. Pritchard led the way for Harrison with two goals.

Harrison finishes the season with a 6-11 record, including this painful loss to the school's biggest rival.

“It’s a big rivalry because of the kids, and because it’s Rye,” said Kinisky. “We could play them in chess and it would be competitive. We consider it a rivalry but it won’t become a big rivalry until we can match them.”