Rye field hockey opens the Section 1 Class B playoffs Saturday, Oct. 24, hosting No. 10 Brewster at noon at Nugent Stadium.

The No. 7 Garnets finished the regular season 7-6-1, a record that masks how close they were to a much different fall. Four of those six losses came by a single goal against top competition, according to the Rye Record.

The strongest evidence came in the penultimate game, when Rye tied No. 3-seeded Lakeland 3-3. The Garnets led on three separate occasions.

Senior Liv Prata scored five minutes in, and sophomore Dylan Ehrlich put Rye ahead 3-2 with 7:30 left. Lakeland equalized with 3:15 remaining. Overtime settled nothing.

"Lakeland is a very strong team," second-year coach Valerie Montano told the Rye Record, "and we showed that we can compete with the best teams in the section."

The lineup that took the field against Lakeland looked almost nothing like last year's squad.

Rye lost 11 seniors to graduation after reaching the 2025 Section 1 championship game, where the Garnets fell to Horace Greeley. Senior goalkeeper Tessa Zicari was a backup in 2025.

This season she has stepped into the starting role, making nine saves on 12 shots against Lakeland and six saves in a 2-1 regular-season finale loss at Kingston.

Montano said Zicari will be key in the postseason, calling her "a big presence in goal for us."

Brewster enters at 7-6-3, according to MaxPreps, with 34 goals scored and 34 allowed. The Bears lost 2-1 in overtime to Walter Panas in their regular-season finale and were shut out 6-0 by John Jay-Cross River on Oct. 3.

That matters because the winner of Saturday's game advances to a likely quarterfinal matchup against No. 2 John Jay-Cross River on Tuesday, Oct. 27.

The Class B semifinals are scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 29, with the final set for Sunday, Nov. 1, at Nyack High School, according to lohud.

Section 1 Class B will send both its champion and runner-up to state regionals this year, giving every team in the bracket two paths forward.

Harrison also opens playoff play Saturday, traveling to No. 6 Pearl River as the No. 11 seed.