Schools
Sayville Boys Lax Loses to Garden City in LI Championship
Trojans dominate Sayville, 9-2, to capture the Class B Long Island Championship and advance to the state semifinals.
One year after putting up nine goals in the Long Island Championship for a , the Garden City Trojans boys lacrosse team put up nine more in a convincing 9-2 win over the Sayville Golden Flashes for the Trojans' third straight Long Island Championship Saturday night.
The game between was a tight one through the first quarter. The Trojans, who were playing mostly in front of a home crowd at Hofstra's Shuart Stadium on Saturday, could not capitalize on a few early scoring opportunities.
The same could be said for Sayville, who beat rival Comsewogue, to earn a place in this game.
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The second quarter was a different story as the Garden City offense exploded, scoring five goals to blow the game open.
"I felt we had a great second quarter and it was definitely a turning point for our team," Garden City coach Steve Finnell said. "[Mark] Ellis's first goal and [Tim] McDonagh's second really sparked our team."
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Both players scored early unassisted goals, followed up by goals by Devin Dwyer, Justin Guterding and Ryan Norton to give the Trojans a 5-0 lead going into halftime.
The Golden Flashes got a little momentum on their side in the third quarter as they scored two early goals to cut Garden City's lead to three.
Middie Conner O'Neil got the first goal, followed up by a shot by Matt Kollegger. But that would be the end of Sayville's goal scoring as the Trojan defense tightened up and their offense got back on track.
Guterding scored a goal for Garden City midway through the third and sophomore Cody George knocked one in with 26 seconds left in the quarter.
The Trojans would add two more goals in the fourth off the sticks of Dwyer and Patric Berkery to give them the eventual 9-2 victory.
"I thought their defense and especially their goalie did an outstanding job preventing us from scoring in the first," Finnell said. "But we had the home crowd on our side and we were finally able to get going."
The Trojans will now face Yorktown in the state semifinals at Hofstra at 8 p.m. on Wednesday.
"It's a team we've met many times before in the past," Finnell said. "They have quick, athletic players and it will be a difficult game."
