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Putnam Valley Stoned by Garnets, 1-0
Defending state champs fall to Rye in sectional final
by Ray Gallagher
 | | PV's Megan McCrudden driving on goal at the Sectional final |
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If you live in Putnam Valley, care about its high school sports and want to see its athletic department thrive, you probably have a tough time dealing with the thought of Rye High School. Rye has been at the very center of Putnam Valley heartache over the course of six years of varsity sports in the Valley, including last Saturday's 1-0 defeat of the Tigers in the Section 1 Class B Field Hockey Championship on the campus of Lakeland High.
Perennial powerhouse Rye (18-1) waited nearly 365 days to extract this measure of revenge on the former defending state champions from Putnam Valley, doing so with a goal off the stick of freshman Torie Stearns with 10 minutes remaining while adding to its list of sectional playoff victories over Putnam Valley. The Tigers have now suffered playoff losses to the Garnets in a pair of field hockey championships and another on the basketball court.
Putnam Valley (12-4-2) had several scoring opportunities, as it controlled the flow of the game for good portions of time. But Ashley Santoro stopped the three best chances the Tigers had, thus securing the 16th shutout of the season for the Garnets. To a girl, the Tigers were
hoping to force overtime, where, in a 7-on-7 setting, they might use their speed and topnotch goaltending to their advantage. Instead, a lack of awareness to play the whistle cost the Tigers dearly.
"It was a tough loss," P.V. Coach and expectant mother Tracy Parchen said. "I thought that the kids played well and both teams to me seemed very evenly matched. I was hoping it was going to go into 7v7. I think the team was disappointed on the way it all happened, especially Kim and Kemp. You should always play to the whistle, but I think they thought the girl was going to get called because it hit her body and then had a high stick, so they all kind of hesitated. But bottom line is; play to the whistle."
The Garnets, too, had several solid opportunities to bang the boards, but Tiger goalie Kim Kastuk (7 saves) was, again, outstanding between the pipes, but she would need to increase her state record for career shutouts if Putnam Valley was going to win. Stearns' goal barely crossed the goal line, trickling through a crack in the Tiger defense after making body contact with a Rye player.
"I don't even know how to describe their goal, it just trickled in," said senior middie and captain Christine Kemp, a true shining example for future PV student athletes. "I thought it was a good game. If we could have held off for 10 more minutes and sent it into overtime; that would have been key. We are extremely confident and strong during 7 vs. 7. However, they got a lucky moment and capitalized. It's a terrible feeling to go out my senior year like this, but I can't be too upset because I got to experience winning a state title, which is something kids would die for every day. We played tough and although we really wanted to win again, we couldn't finish on offense. Our defense held tough. It's unfortunate, but I wouldn't change my field
hockey career at P.V. for anything. I had the best times with my team, winning and losing."
Having played alongside such tremendous trailblazers as Melissa Mazin, Beverly Beladino, Kristi Dini, Kate Kinsley and others; Kemp and Kastuk - the Special K's - have helped set a field hockey standard that will be tough to match in the years to come. The past three years have included a state and sectional title and two championship setbacks: Not too shabby for the first five years.
"It's been amazing," said the Boston University-bound Kastuk, who finished her superb five-year career with 63 shutouts.
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