Tigers Spoil Rye Party with Late Comeback

PUTNAM VALLEY – This was the moment the Putnam Valley High lacrosse team had been waiting for, and the Tigers weren’t going down without a fight.

The Putnam Valley Tigers celebrate winning the Class C championship at White Plains HS last week. SKIP PEARLMAN Turns out, they didn’t go down at all.

The Tigers erased a 9-7 deficit in the final 3:09 of their championship game against Rye, scoring three late goals to win their second consecutive Class C championship, and the third overall for the school.

With 5:00 left in the game, the Tigers turned the ball over, and appeared to be in a bit of trouble. But PV got possession with 3:30 on the clock, and went to work.

It was Shane Kelly who got things rolling, firing a low shot from eight yards straight out, and it found the net with 3:09 remaining to make it a 9-8 game.

PV’s Dan O’Gorman won the ensuing faceoff, and lady luck smiled on the Tigers again, as Rye drew a penalty, giving PV a much-needed man-up situation. This time Kevin Christopher took advantage, taking a pass from Ryan Fitzgerald and quickly firing from 15 yards out to tie the game with 2:00 left on the clock.

Putnam Valley's Ryan Fitzgerald puts a shot past Rye defense and keeper Michael Linehan. SKIP PEARLMAN Again it was O’Gorman prevailing on the faceoff, and soon the ball was in Fitzgerald’s stick. He made a hard roll around the goal, from the keeper’s left side, and launched a hard bouncer that blew right by Garnet netminder Michael Linehan and completed the comeback, giving No. 4 Putnam Valley a 10-9 win and the Class C title, last Wednesday at White Plains High School.

No. 6 seed Rye had two good chances to even it up again, but Briggs Barton’s shot went wide right, and Tigers keeper Brendan McCrudden came up with the stop on the final shot, as PV (14-4) watched time expire.

PV's Kevin Christopher (33) and Ryan Fitzgerald (2) celebrate after hooking up to score the game-tying goal with 2:32 left to play against Rye. Skip Pearlman “We worked too hard to go home,” Fitzgerald said. “We knew we could do it… we knew we could overcome it. This feels awesome… and senior year.”

McCrudden said some words from coach Brian Kuczma helped.

“With about seven minutes left, coach took a timeout and told us there’s a reason we’re here… we really picked it up after that. It feels awesome. All the hard work paid off, we just kept digging, and we pulled it out. Everyone stepped up, and Ryan showed he’s one of the best.”

Fitzgerald netted five goals in the win, Christopher added two, Johnny van de Veerdonk had a goal and an assist, and Kelly finished with one goal. McCrudden stopped six shots on net, and Linehan had 12 saves.

Evan Kneuer of Put Valley had two goals in a championship game win over Rye. Also key was O’Gorman’s work on faceoffs, which PV dominated, winning 13-of-21.

“It feels amazing to win it back-toback,” O’Gorman said. “I was definitely getting a little nervous (down two goals late in the game), but when they went on that run, we weren’t communicating on defense. But at the end, we just got a whole bunch of heart… we moved the ball, took it to the hole, and finished.”

The Tigers led 3-1 after a quarter, but Rye put six on the board in the second, leaving PV trailing 7-6 at halftime. van de Veerdonk tied the game at 7-7 1:12 into the third.

The Garnets (12-8) got a goal from Matt McReddie to go back up one with 9:48 left in the third, and went up 9-7 on Jack O’Callaghan’s goal with 50 seconds left in the quarter. O’Callaghan finished with four goals.

Johnny van de Veerdonk battles through defenders and shoots on Rye keeper. The Tigers had lots of chances to score in the fourth, but they hit the post, missed the net, and hit the goalie a number of times, coming up empty over and over again – until the final three minutes.

Putnam Valley went on to rout Glens Falls, 12-3, in the first round of the state tournament Saturday at Yorktown High School.

Fitzgerald had a hat-trick and two assists, O’Gorman also had three goals, Christopher added two scores and assisted on two others, Evan Kneuer scored twice, and van de Veerdonk and Stephan Gair each had one goal.

McCrudden made12 saves, and Dan Faber-Manning had one, for PV, and Scott Nelson stopped 12 shots on the cage for GF, the Section 2 champion.

Dan O'Gorman puts a shot on Rye keeper last week. Skip Pearlman PV was scheduled to face Red Hook in the state quarterfinal on Tuesday (too late for this edition). The winner advances to the state semifinals, where the Tigers lost to Long Island champion Manhasset (16-4) last year.