Boys soccer: Tappan Zee a favorite to go undefeated after dramatic win over Eastchester
ORANGEBURG – Danger. Danger. Danger.
The internal alarms were buzzing when a defensive miscue by Eastchester gave Jack Kryger a final chance to avoid overtime.
Uh, oh.
Tappan Zee’s rangy all-section forward went after the ball with authority and won the possession. Kryger muscled past the final defender and got a clean shot from deep in the box, ending an entertaining deadlock with 19.5 seconds to play and giving the Dutchmen a 2-1 win.
Wow.
“It’s kind of like a poacher’s instinct,” Kryger said. “You’re sitting there waiting for your moment, especially when there’s 30 seconds left, you’re looking to do whatever you can to maybe get a shot on net and get momentum going into overtime. It was really about putting pressure on them, looking for them to make a mistake.”
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Tappan Zee clearly was not over a 1-0 overtime loss to the Eagles last October in a Section 1 Class A semifinal and dominated the first 25 minutes. Kryger took a through ball from Matthew Thampi and gave the Dutchmen a 1-0 lead in the 18th minute.
He’s the leading goal-scorer in Section 1.
“We had watched plenty of their games,” Kryger said. “We knew their play style was similar to us so it was really about heart, who wanted the goals more, who wanted to win more, especially because of what happened last season in sectionals.”
Eastchester struggled to match the intensity at the start, but finally began to settle the ball and sustain pressure. Liam Jeannotte got the Eagles fired up when he converted a free kick in the 34th minute.
“I give total credit to the boys for being able to deal with the adversity after conceding the equalizer,” Tappan Zee coach Jon Jacobs said. “Eastchester is an opportunistic team. They’re a team you can’t get complacent against. … Heads went down for a moment, but then it was a new match and you’ve got to maintain the focus.”
What it means
Tappan Zee is now in position to go undefeated and claim the No. 1 seed in Class A for the second year in a row. The Dutchmen have two non-league games remaining with Panas and Riverside along with home-and-home league contests against Clarkstown North, Nanuet and Nyack. Tappan Zee will be favored in each remaining match.
"It comes down to our preparation. It comes down to our discipline," said Jacobs, who believes there are more tests coming. "These guys understand there are seasons where we are the hunter and seasons where we are the hunted. We’re a team with high ambition and it’s up to these guys to make sure their minds are right."
Player of the game
Kryger is getting Division I looks for a reason. He was a threat each time he was on the ball.
By the numbers
Eastchester (5-2): Ronan Melly came up with six saves for the Eagles.
Tappan Zee (6-0): Michael Phelan had three saves for the Dutchmen.
They said it
"This is really disappointing, really, really, really disappointing, but that’s the game," said Emre Ferahoglu, whose Eastchester team is in the midst of a stretch that includes Lakeland, Somers, Tappan Zee, Edgemont, Byram Hills and Rye. "It’s a lot. We’re playing some of the best teams in Section 1. Hopefully in the playoffs we can play some of them again and show what we learned and who we are and bring it home."
"This is a message to everyone else who’s looking at us saying, ‘These guys aren’t where they should be. They’re too high on the list.,' "’ Kryger said of wins over Somers and Eastchester. "It’s happened year after year where teams have underestimated us and now we’ve beaten two of the best teams in Section 1 and it’s a nice feeling."
Up next
Tappan Zee is heading for Panas on Thursday while Eastchester is right back at it Wednesday at Edgemont.
Mike Dougherty covers boys soccer for The Journal News and lohud.com. He can be reached by email at mdougher@Lohud.com or via Twitter @hoopsmbd.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Boys soccer: Tappan Zee is in position to go undefeated
