Garnets Advance to Class A Championship

The No. 1 ranked Rye Garnets girls soccer team beat the Byram Hills Bobcats for their 45th consecutive victory, advancing to the Section One Class A championship Sunday in Yorktown against the Somers Tuskers.

It is also the 17-0 Garnets second consecutive trip to the final game of conference play after settling for a 1-1 tie off penalty kicks against Eastchester in last year's section one finale.

Coming into Wednesday's game, the Garnets beat the Nyack Indians 3-0 Monday while the Bobcats defeated Pearl River 2-0.

The Garnets have also had continued success against the 10-6-2 Bobcats throughout the regular season, shutting them out 3-0 on October 5 and again 1-0 October 21.

Rye had four missed shots Wednesday, including two early on that would have given the Garnets a possible 2-0 lead, compared to Byram Hills three in the first half when both teams struggled to score.

Rye Head Coach Rich Savage reorganized his lineup heading into the second half to adjust the Garnets defense in order to be more effective on offense than they were to start the afternoon.

"It worked really well," he said.

Rye forward Lia Bellizzi scored the Garnets' first goal of the game on a free kick over a wall of Bobcat defenders and into the back of the net less than a minute in after being tripped up by a Byram Hills defender.

Bellizzi wanted to prove a point after falling down on the turf.

"I was pretty angry," she said.

Captain and midfielder Maddy Chabot then followed with shot of her own 20 minutes later off a deflection for the eventual 2-0 final.

Byram Hills goalkeeper Rachel Boyle had 13 saves and Garnets goalkeeper Tatiana Saunders had five saves, including a key save that would have put the Bobcats down only goal in the second half had it not been for Saunders crowding around the ball to protect it as Byram Hills failed to score on two opportunities.