Sports
GC Girls Drop Hard Fought Battle to South Side
Garden City girls soccer dealt a tough 2-1 home loss to defending NYS champion South Side. Playoffs start Friday.
In their second meeting of the year, South Side gets even with a 2-1 victory over the Lady Trojans.
The Garden City girls soccer team came into the match with five straight victories and an overall 8-2-1 record - including an all important win over South Side earlier this month.
This week's game was potentially a preview of the Nassau County finals as South Side will go into the playoffs as the number 1 seed and Garden City will be seeded number 2.
The Lady Trojans got off to a fast start breaking through with a goal less than seven minutes into the match. Caroline Beaty hit a perfect corner kick to the back post and Haley O'Hanlon followed through with a strong header past the South Side keeper for the 1-0 lead. Garden City had several more good looks at the goal but couldn't capitalize on their offensive pressure.
On the defensive side of the field Nicole Chtchekine was kept busy as South Side had several counterattacks that resulted in scoring chances. With about five minutes left in the first half South Side cashed in when the referees couldn't agree on a foul call that resulted in a free kick from just outside the box for South Side. The far side referee called the foul against Garden City and he overruled the play and South Side took advantage with a nice header off the free kick past Chtchekine.
The second half was a battle as both teams were fighting to establish themselves for the upcoming playoffs. Garden City had several good looks at the goal by Lauren Miesmer, O'Hanlon and Katherine Malhame but each missed the mark. South Side was denied by a very active Garden City defense, led by keeper Taylor Carpentier and sweeper Deanna DiPierro, as well as Kerri DeFliese, Katherine Galzerano and Collette and Megan Seel.
The game winner came with only a little over eight minutes remaining in the game as the Trojans' defense had a communications breakdown as Carpentier came out for the ball but it was played by a defender. And when given an opportunity like they had South Side didn't miss and they buried the ball into the back of the open net for the 2-1 lead.
Playoffs start with a home game on Friday afternoon as Trojans Coach Mike Heedles will keep the girls focused on taking the post season games one at a time.
