Garden City Grounds Cyclones, 10-1

There was no margin of error for South Side against rival powerhouse Garden City on Tuesday at Skelos Field. The Trojans took advantage of every Cyclone misstep, converting mistakes to goals and handing South Side its worst loss of the season, 10-1.

Junior Devin Dwyer and senior Tom Gordon led the Trojans, combining for five goals and three assists, while teammate Rob Savage put two of his own in the back of the cage. Garden City capitalized and took advantage of every opportunity offered to them.

“I think our team defense was strong when it was six on six,” Cyclones coach Steve DiPietro said after the game. “They got us with their extra man opportunities [going three for three], and they put two or three in on our failed clears. Our team defense was very strong when it was even strength.”

South Side goalie Dominic Moriarty did his best to hold the high powered Trojan offense in check, finishing with 10 saves on 20 Garden City shots, but the undefeated Trojans's relentless offense could not be stopped, dominating from opening to closing whistle.

“We had about five unforced errors, and they put them all in," DiPietro said. "Great teams bury those opportunities, and that’s what happened today. Facing them is like facing an all star team with them – they might be better than some college teams, but we battled for the entire game.”

South Side enjoyed very few opportunities on offense, getting only six shots through the vaunted senior-laden Trojan defense. Cyclone captain Bryan Gerrato was the only one to break up the shut out, when he tossed a ten-yard shot past Dan Marino’s right shoulder with 9:35 left in the game.

With just two games remaining before the playoffs, South Side will look to re-focus and regroup in its final two games – against Roslyn and Jericho  — and hopefully enter the post season with momentum. 

“We need to fine tune our finishing, and our clearing and the sky is the limit,” he said. “Those unforced errors kill us, but we have the athleticism and the talent to play with anyone. I’m proud with how they played today, and hopefully we can learn something and put that to use against them in the playoffs.”