CROSS RIVER — The final lit numbers on the scoreboard at the Oct. 14 field hockey contest between Mamaroneck and John Jay-Cross River essentially declared the game had been either team’s to win.
Technically, at 2-1 Mamaroneck, that was true.
But what was more accurate is the battle between Mamaroneck’s offense and John Jay-Cross River’s defense — led by Wolves keeper McKenzie Ryder — had been close.
Mamaroneck, which has not lost a game this year to a Section 1 foe, dominated time of possession and had almost all the game’s offensive chances.
And there were a ton.
The Tigers had an incredible 17-0 penalty corner advantage.
A stat like that would indicate a blowout.
But Ryder wouldn’t let that happen.
Ryder made 20 saves. Few were routine. Sometimes she made one outstanding save, then defenders cleared the ball. Sometimes she did a partial split to stop a shot, then jumped up to stop another shot or, on occasion, with no time to do that, stayed down and simply stopped the ball from there.
In one instance, with the ball passing her and heading into the cage, she twisted her body around left, stretching like some kind of human Gumby, and simultaneously dove backward to keep the ball out.
She stopped everything, except for two reverse shots by Mamaroneck’s Lily Brickman, whose very strong play included a couple of near misses.
Mamaroneck will probably work on its corner shots in the days ahead. But with a lesser goalie between the pipes or a goalie not quite as on as Ryder was Tuesday, the Tigers would have won in a romp. They had multiple, quality shots that would have gone in if not for Ryder’s acrobatics.
And there was little to quibble about the rest of Mamaroneck’s play.
Mamaroneck often looked like it could read thoughts as it intercepted pass after pass, anticipating or somehow knowing where the Wolves were going to feed the ball.
And the Tigers’ own passing was excellent.
For John Jay-Cross River, though, the game was added proof of just how far it has come since an early-season shutout loss to Horace Greeley.
This was its third one-goal loss in four games. But this was Mamaroneck’s closest score against a Section 1 opponent, and the other recent Wolves losses came in overtime to Rye and Lakeland.
Mamaroneck, which won the Class A state title in 2023 and 2024, is No. 1 in this publication’s most recent field hockey rankings. John Jay-Cross River is No. 5.
The game likely solidified the Wolves’ hold on that spot.
Brickman’s two scores earn her top player honors.
Mamaroneck’s first goal came with 7:34 left in the first period. After a Mamaroneck defenseman stopped a Wolves shot, the Tigers quickly advanced up the field, where Lucy Kaplan fed Brickman on the left side of the Wolves cage. Brickman netted the goal, shooting back right with her stick reversed.
Brickman’s other goal came with 6:50 left in the third quarter when she used a reverse to put in a rebound.
Shortly after that, John Jay-Cross River’s Kaitlyn Condon made a fine stop of a blast off a Mamaroneck corner.
Before the quarter ended, Ryder made her best save of the game with that twisting, backward, diving stop.
After making a great fourth-quarter stop on Lexi Suman and then another on the rebound, Ryder received help from her defense, which stopped the follow-up shot.
John Jay-Cross River had trouble mounting much offense in large part because Mamaroneck was quick to read its intentions and quick then to the ball. Kaplan had a terrific defensive game, as did Emma Kirwin.
John Jay-Cross River finally broke through with 3:14 left in the game when Callan Keeley, from a bad angle on the right side of the net, snuck a hard, low shot in past Tiger goalie Penny Norgaard, who had two saves.
“Obviously, a win is a win. It’s great to get another win in the win column. but, overall, I mean we’d like to score more, do better. But McKenzie, she’s a great goalie. She did great. She stopped it a lot. But, yeah, we’re going to take everything that we learned in this game, do it in practice and get ready for (our next game),” Brickman said, referring to the Tigers’ game Saturday vs. Horace Greeley.
While taking a game-by-game approach, Brickman confirmed Mamaroneck’s ultimate goal is to win a third straight Class A state title.
“We have the heart. We want to do it,” she said.
“We’ve been challenged by all the big ones — Greeley, Rye, Lakeland, Mamaroneck. It showed us exactly where we are. I couldn’t be prouder of the girls. We have three more games to play and then we’ll go with confidence into the postseason,” John Jay-Cross River coach Deb Walsh said.
Other Oct. 14 games
Yorktown 7, Harrison 0
YKT
— Lily Diaz: 3G,1A
— Riley Grieve: 1G, 2A
— Megan Durante: 1G
— Gabby Coppola: 1G
— Alana D’Andraia: 1G
H
— Samantha Rinaldi: 9S
Ketcham 2, Putnam Valley 1 (OT)
RCK
— Katie Sauve: 1G (Scored the winning goal in OT off a penalty stroke)
— Valerie Tullo: 1G
— Gwenyth Browne: 6S
PV
— Maggie Caputo: 1G (Goal scored off a penalty stroke)
— Minisha Singh: 10S
Rye Neck 4, Hastings 0
RN
— Brooke Marchese: 1G, 1A
— Ella Sperling: 1G
— Paityn Tunno: 1G
— Mia Rizzo: 1G
— Emma Cunningham: 1A
— Lauren Blaschuk: 1A
— Charlotte McCallion: 7S
Hs
— Elodie Dodziuk: 17S
Clarkstown 3, Suffern 2
Clk
— Blythe Leahy: 1G, 1A
— Ana Galati: 1G
— Julia Ekizian: 1G
— Lily Brower: 7S
Sf
— Elizabeth Torres: 1G, 1A
— Nicole Debellis: 1G
— Marissa Goodman: 15S
Bronxville 6, Irvington 1
Bx
— Zoe Loader: 4G, 1A
— Maggie Young: 1G
— Emma Yeon: 1G
— Virginia Shah: 1G
— Emma Yeon: 1G
— Michaela Doheny: 2S
— Eva Klessel: 1S
Irv
— Sadie Kilbury: 1G
— Alex Simic: 10S
Rye Country Day 3, Hackley 1
RCDS
— Louisa Maggard: 2G
— Kate Keating: 1G
— Dylan Fenyes: 1S
Hk
— Morgan Begley: 1G
— Maddie Edwards: 9S
White Plains 1, Fox Lane 0
WP
— Alexis Tighe: 1G
— Mila Tomlin: 2S
FL
— Alyssa Cambareri: 6S
Nanuet 5, Pleasantville 2
Nt
— Lexi Plunkett: 3G, 2A
— Kaeleigh Larkin:” 2G, 2A
— Sophia Cesario: 1A
— Mia Chindemi:14S
Pvl
— Taylor Minerva: 1G
— Ashley Vamossy: 1G
— Claire Collins: 1A
— Gianna White: 11S
Lakeland 9, Somers 1
Lkl
— Aditi Parambath: 4G
— Gabby Goldstein: 1G, 1A
— Riley Waters: 1G, 1A
— Gianna Santini: 1G
— Allie Waters: 1G
— Meaghan Heyde: 1G
— Shannon Quaile: 1A
— Madison Wohlberg: 1A
— Maia Hart: 1A
So
— Vivian Davila: 1G (Scored on penalty stroke)
— Mary Jarrett: 9S
Nyack 2, North Salem 1
Nk
— Ava Cannici: 1G
—Addison Burns: 1G
— Sophia Perlin: 1G
— Emily Rodriguez: 8S
NS
— Abby Cassidy: 1G
— Anya Gosh: 11S
Rye 4, Mahopac 2
Rye
— Liv Prata: 4G
— Kendall Bahl: 1G, 2A
— Beau Whaling: 1G— Thea Fairhurst: 1A
— Sienna Myers: 1A
— Chloe Holden: 4S
— Tessa Zicari: 2S
Mah
— Gabby Bartholdi: 1G
— Sophia Perillo: 1G
— Sam Dimilia 5S
Monday, Oct. 13
Nanuet at Irvington, 10 a.m.
Ursuline vs. Ossining at Anne M. Dorner Middle School, 11 a.m.
Tuesday, Oct. 14
Pelham at Pearl River, 4:30 p.m.
Hen Hud at John Jay-EF, 4:30 p.m.
North Rockland at Brewster, 4:30 p.m.
Carmel at Valhalla, 5:15 p.m.
Wednesday, Oct. 15
Panas at Carmel, 4:30 p.m.
Pawling at Arlington, 4:30 p.m.
Hastings at Edgemont, 4:30 p.m.
John Jay-East Fishkill at Albertus Magnus, 4:30 p.m.
Ursuline at North Salem, 4:30 p.m.
Croton at Rye Neck, 4:30 p.m.
Greeley vs. Sleepy Hollow/Briarcliff at Briarcliff, 4:45 p.m.
Hen Hud vs. Ossining at Anne M. Dorner Middle School, 5 p.m.
Byram Hills at Rye, 5 p.m.
Thursday, Oct. 16
Pelham at Fox Lane, 12:30 p.m.
Bronxville at Greeley, 4:30 p.m.
North Rockland at Nyack, 4:30 p.m.
Rye Neck vs. Clarkstown at Clarkstown South, 4:30 p.m.
Panas at Somers, 4:30 p.m.
Pearl River at Pleasantville, 4:30 p.m.
Nanuet at Edgemont, 4:30 p.m.
Scarsdale at Harrison, 4:30 p.m.
Pelham at Mahopac, 5 p.m.
Croton at Brewster, 5 p.m.
John Jay-Cross River at Yorktown, 6 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 17
North Rockland at Ursuline, 4:30 p.m.
Arlington at Brewster, 4:30 p.m.
White Plains at Putnam Valley, 4:30 p.m.
Byram Hills at Hastings, 4:30 p.m.
North Salem at Irvington, 4:30 p.m.
Nanuet at Rye Neck, 4:45 p.m.
Lakeland at John Jay-East Fishkill, 5 p.m.
Hen Hud at Pawling, 5:15 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 18
Bronxville at Fox Lane, 10 a.m.
Panas at Carmel, 10 a.m.
Sleepy Hollow/Briarcliff at Hastings, 10:30 a.m.
Suffern at Nyack, 11 a.m.
Greeley at Somers, 11 a.m.
Ossining at Yorktown, 11 a.m.
North Rockland at Harrison, 11 a.m.
Albertus Magnus at Ursuline, 11 a.m.
Panas at John Jay-East Fishkill, 1 p.m.
Valhalla at Croton, 2 p.m.
John Jay-Cross River vs. Pelham at Glover Field, 2:30 p.m.
Greeley at Mamaroneck, 3 p.m.
Scarsdale at Harrison, 3 p.m.
Nanuet at Rye Neck, 3 p.m.
Arlington at Rye, 7 p.m.
Nancy Haggerty covers sports for The Journal News/lohud .
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