Rhinebeck, NY, October 12—-A soccer game is in full swing: Colin Murray takes a free-kick and in comes Noah Lortie, striker for Rhinebeck. He heads the ball backwards into the right side of the goal and the crowd continues to cheer.
This year, the Rhinebeck Central School District’s annual Andy Bennett Sports Tournament took place on Indigenous Peoples’ Day weekend.
Andy Bennett was a student-athlete at Rhinebeck High School who excelled at soccer, basketball, and baseball before he tragically passed away during his senior year as a result of a car accident. This tournament honors and celebrates Bennett’s legacy. It started as a way to remember Andy Bennett’s athleticism and has now expanded over the years to include more sports teams, and even visiting schools.
This year the tournament featured the Girls Varsity Volleyball team, Boys Varsity Soccer, and Girls Varsity Soccer.
Boys Varsity Soccer played our neighboring rivals Red Hook. Although Red Hook is an A-division school and much larger than Rhinebeck, we still came through and won, 2-0.
Noah Lortie described the game as a “great friendly competition” and mentions the strong defense that Rhinebeck displayed.
Lortie scored both goals but didn’t fail to mention that it’s a team sport. Rhinebeck’s teamwork and defense ultimately led to victory.
Girls Varsity Soccer played another A-school, Rondout High School.
Kaya Binetti describes going into the game with “some doubts,” but nevertheless Rhinebeck held off Rondout and ultimately tied 0-0.
Rhinebeck dominated most of the game, but they had trouble “connecting some of their passes.” Having played an extremely defensive game, Binetti still looks back at the game confidently.
“It was a good experience, and it should help us on our way to sectionals.”
Going into double overtime against Rondout, the Rhinebeck girls continued to push through and headed into sectionals with great attitudes.
While soccer was happening outside, inside the gym our Girls Varsity Volleyball team played the entire day.
They played for twelve hours and placed second out of over 10 teams competing.
This was a tremendous win considering how new their team is this year. The team has a new coach and many new varsity players.
New coach Arielle Rebraca looked back at the tournament happily.
“It’s definitely the highlight of our season.” The Andy Bennett Tournament is a great opportunity for the Varsity players and a way to “prepare for the postseason,” according to Rebraca.’
Despite playing challenging schools, all three Rhinebeck teams excelled during the Andy Bennett Tournament.
As the fall sports season ended, Rhinebeck continued to prove their endurance and overall achievement in sports.