Regardless of the sport, anytime teams from Harrison and Rye square off against each other, fans can bet that they are in for a spirited affair.

That much was true on Saturday morning, when the Garnets and Huskies soccer clubs met for a morning tilt at the Rye Nursery Field. The showdown did not disappoint, as the two teams battled for 80 minutes to see the game end in a 3-3 draw.

Rye coach Jared Small—whose team won the Section 1 Class A title last year—said that Saturday’s game played out much like many past battles between the rivals, with two evenly-matched teams trading runs throughout.

“Harrison is very good and this was a great match,” he said. “Both teams played well, both teams scored some nice goals, both teams made a few mistakes, and this was pretty much what we expected.”

Harrison took an early lead on a goal by Mylo Langlais, but Rye would respond in kind, with goals coming on first half goals from Lex Cox and Peter Wilmot, who both found the net on corner chances. The Huskies would knot things up and take a lead on a second goal by Langlais and one from Gavin Ensign. With time running out, the Garnets would get the equalizer when Connor Dehmer headed in a pass from Cox to knot the score at three.

For Small, the refusal of the Garnets to give up late in the game showed heart, something he hopes the team will carry into future games this fall.

“We didn’t panic, which was nice,” said the head coach. “We kept a decent amount of possession, we generated a few opportunities, and that was a great goal to tie it.”

Small credited his team for their ability to make things happen on set plays, another aspect of the game he believes can be a strength for the Garnets this year.

“I think we had some really good ideas on set-pieces, we didn’t to a particularly good job on them during the first game against Tappan Zee, but today we did a nice job on them,” he said. “Now we just need to keep on working to find a little more consistency.”

Through three games on the year, the Garnets are currently 2-0-1, and Small believes that taking on teams like the Dutchmen—last year’s Class AA champion—and Harrison will only serve to get his squad ready for the inevitable playoff push later in the year.

“We want to learn about ourselves and put ourselves into challenging situations,” said Small. “Both opponents so far have presented with really difficult situations and I think we’re starting to learn how to handle those.”