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Put Valley Can't Stick with Rye
Defending state champs suffer first loss of season
by Ray Gallagher
 | | PV's Ashley Morgan reaches for the ball during PV's loss to Rye |
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The road to a Section 1 Class B field hockey title had run through Rye for many, many years until the fall of 2005 when Putnam Valley High turned the section and the state upside down en route to the first NYS Class B championship in school history.
In doing so, Coach Tracy Parchen's Tigers ended Rye's five-year reign of supremacy with a stunning, last-second sectional championship victory before going full bore into the state tournament. Rye had nearly a year to stew on that, and the Garnets extracted a small measure of revenge last Saturday, defeating the host Tigers 1-0. When Ashley Santoro scored the lone goal of the game, it marked the first time in 10 consecutive games that somebody managed to beat PV goalie Kim Kastuk, who had notched four shutouts this year and six in a row to conclude the 2005 season. She now stands just six shutouts shy of setting the New York State record for career shutouts by a field hockey goalie.
The Tigers (4-1) had beaten their first four opponents by a combined 15-0 count, but lacked intensity for prolonged periods against Rye (5-0), which had won three state championships since 2000.
The defending state champion Tigers needed to bring their A-game, but save for the last 15 minutes or so, Parchen's team delivered a B-minus game. The Tigers failed to play with a sense of urgency, looking complacent at times and not very hungry.
Rye, on the other hand, was quick to the ball; something the Garnets have excelled at for years. The Garnets dominated the first 40 minutes of action, prompting Parchen to call a timeout to deliver a tongue lashing to the Tigers where she questioned their intensity level, among other things.
"We've got to work harder," Put Valley senior captain Christine Kemp admitted. "We've got to find some motivation, some inspiration because this stinks. We want another shot at them. It's always a great game between us and Rye, and we can probably expect to see them again. Kim (Kastuk) and I are just going to have to bring a more intense level to practice the rest of the way, and just try to find ways to get our team motivated. Something's missing and we've got to find out what it is."
The Tigers will see Nanuet (1-4), Pelham (2-2-1) and Sleepy Hollow (4-3) before facing a very tough Briarcliff (5-0) team on October 14th. Briarcliff and Rye currently share top billing in the 15-team Conference III League. The Tigers had gotten off to a solid 4-0 start, according to Parchen, because of the steady play of Kemp, Kastuk, Ashley Morgan and Brittany Kinsley.
"I expected more intensity," Tigers coach Tracy Parchen admitted. "We seemed to be into it before the game began and for about the first 10 minutes. Then, we just stopped, which is unacceptable."
Such action is unacceptable against any team, but unforgivable against Rye.
"I didn't come away thinking that Rye was a clearly better team," Parchen said. "Skillwise I think we match up with them. We just didn't play with enough intensity. On the flip side, we lost by a goal to a really good team without having played a good game ourselves. I'd rather we lose to them now than down the road."
If the Tigers play like fat cats, defending their sectional and state titles will be difficult. Should they respond from this tough setback, chances are they'll see Rye again down the road with a Section 1 title on the line.
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