Widely considered the best team in New York State, if not the entire country, the Garden City Trojans marched towards the Nassau County Class B semifinals with a 15-7 victory over the South Side Cyclones on Friday evening at Hofstra University.
The win hardly came without struggle for the Trojans. Ahead 8-3 late in the first half, the playoff game looked like it could be an easy one for the top seed. They had answered a late first-quarter South Side run, one that featured a Hunter Ranis goal and an athletic save by Garden City goalie Dan Marino, with four second quarter goals.
But, much like they had in the waning minutes of the first quarter, South Side struck back. Peter Clark and Eric Gennari both scored in the final four minutes of the half. Gennari’s goal, which cut the Garden City lead to 8-5, came with one second remaining on the clock.
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“I was extremely proud of the kids,” South Side Head coach Steve DiPietro said. “We knew how good (Garden City) was coming in and we just tried to break it down to every 12 minutes. We wanted to take the first quarter and make sure we fought for every ground ball. We tried not to turn the ball over and take advantages of our opportunities when we could. I thought we did a good job of that in the first quarter and we continued to fight through the half. Obviously, the goal (before) halftime was a big momentum shifter.”
Garden City was not phased. The Trojans scored the first four goals of the third quarter, including a man-down score by Devin Dwyer. Dwyer, who opened up the afternoon by putting the Trojans up 1-0 with 8:21 left in the first quarter, finished the game with four goals and four assists.
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“The first few minutes of the third quarter were crucial to keep (the momentum) rolling in our direction,” Garden City Head coach Steve Finnell said. “I thought the attack did a great job. Dwyer, Justin Gutterding, and Liam Kennedy did a real nice job. Our middies consistently got the ground balls and brought it in for our offense.”
South Side’s Zach Scaduto broke through with 2:53 left in the third to cut the Garden City lead to 12-6, but the Cyclones would get no closer.
Marino was a big factor in the Garden City win, as well. His nine saves, some of which were acrobatic in nature, kept South Side at bay long enough for his teammates to take control.
“I thought he was great,” Finnell said of his net-minder. “He made some big one-on-one saves.”
The Trojans will face Long Beach on Wednesday at 8 p.m. at Hofstra’s Shuart Stadium.
