South Side Defeats Garden City to Advance to County Finals

South Side won a hard fought game Saturday against the Garden City Lady Trojans, advancing to the Nassau County soccer finals.

South Side is hoping to secure its 14th county title in the last 15 years.

The lone goal in this defensive battle was scored less than a minute into the game as Christina Klaum took a pass from Victoria Reis and worked her magic to spin past sweeper Christina Mangels and drive a ball past keeper Tracy Rendano and into the goal. For the next 79 minutes the crowd was entertained by two teams that did not leave anything in their tanks, as they battled for every ball.

The semi-final match had No. 2 seed South Side coming into the match with an 8-2-2 record while No. 3 seeded Garden City sported a 6-2-4 record.  

The two teams had split the two previous regular season games, defeating each other on their home fields. In September it was South Side with the 2-0 win over the Trojans at Garden City, and then just 10 days ago it was Garden City defeating the Cyclones by the same 2-1 score with two second-half goals. 

The match started eerily similar to the last meeting of the two teams with an early South Side goal, but in this one the Garden City offense could not put the ball past Lady Cyclones keeper Kelsey Berki. The stout South Side defense played a key role in front of Berki, limiting the Lady Trojans to only eight shots on goal. With backs Sam Ford, Tessa Considine, Kelsey Ford and Caitlin Wallace controlling the back line, the Cyclones came up with their seventh shutout on the year.

Garden City had several opportunities to get back into the game in the first half but it was their second half surge that looked like it could get them even.  Applying more pressure on the ball up front with Taylor Hennig and Addy Zabrowski, as well as midfielders Haley O’Hanlon and Jess Stein, the Trojans couldn’t sneak one into the goal. The best chance came on a ball into the box that Berki went up high for but couldn’t control. Amidst a flurry of legs, seemingly everyone was in the box trying to strike the ball, a shot from Liz Stutzmann sailed about a foot over the goal. 

As the Garden City defense continually pushed up the field, South Side had several strong counterattacks trying to target their talented sophomore forward Klaum. Playing excellent two-way soccer for South Side, and doing what they do best in controlling the ball and making tight, accurate passes were Meghan Hines, Alex Reis, Michaela Lynch and Victoria Reis.

“The chances were there in the second half, we just couldn’t finish," Garden City coach Mike Heedles said after the game. "It’s disappointing but the girls had a great season. Give credit to South Side, they played a strong defensive game.”

The Lady Cyclones will next face No. 1 seed Division at Denton Avenue in New Hyde Park at 6:30 Wednesday.