Girls Soccer Wins First Round Playoff Game

The Garden City girl’s soccer team took to their home pitch to open up the Nassau Class A playoffs on Friday afternoon against the Hewlett Bulldogs and came away victorious. The Lady Trojans went into the match as the number 2 seed in Class A by virtue of their 6-2-4 record in Conference 1, while Hewlett finished their Conference 3 season with a 7-2-1 and the number 15 seed.

Coach Mike Heedles had his girls focused on the first round game and although they were seeded much higher he made sure they weren’t looking past a solid Hewlett team. Heedles was able to use the last few games of the season to work on his lineup by getting playing time for his entire bench and making the necessary adjustments that he hopes will pay dividends in the playoffs.

The girls came out in the first half and controlled the game with strong play in the midfield with the ball going through Haley O’Hanlon and Lauren Meismer. O’Hanlon had been playing sweeper the second half of the season to stabilize the defense but Heedles moved her back to her customary position in the midfield hoping to generate more offense and better ball control.

The move did help Garden City control the ball and the time of possession but the Trojans couldn’t put a ball past Hewlett keeper Nathalie Nidetch. Garden City pushed the ball forward in the first half and forced six corner kicks, three free kicks from inside thirty yards and numerous attacks into the 18 yard box, but no goals. The best shot of the half came off the foot of sophomore Lauren Meismer as she rifled a rebound that Nidetch laid out for to stop. The first half ended at 0-0.

The second half got underway with Garden City continuing their dominance of the ball but as Coach Heedles said after the match, ‘in soccer it’s not unusual for a team dominating to get beat by a quick counterattack.’ But the Lady Trojan’s wouldn’t relent and continued to pressure the ball and their defense kept up the  aggressive play.

The breakthrough came with a little over thirteen minutes remaining in the game as O’Hanlon fired a ball into the box that was knocked down by the Bulldog defense. But the ball wasn’t cleared and landed on the foot of Meismer at the edge of the eighteen. She calmly settled the ball and fired it past a diving keeper as the Garden City sideline erupted.

The Lady Trojans had two more good scoring chances for Lauren Meismer and sister Sam Meismer in the following minutes but just missed. While the defense of Nikki Berkery, Kerry DeFliese, Courtney Studdert and Lilly Schmitt continued to stay solid in front of keeper Kelsey Tierney limiting Hewlett to only two shots on goal.

With less than a minute remaining in the match Hewlett made a final push and forced Garden City into a foul just outside the box. As the Garden City sideline and crowd held their breath the ball was headed out by Courtney Studdert and the Trojans had secured their first round playoff victory.

Next up for Garden City is seventh seeded North Shore on Wednesday at home.