The Garden City Trojans are one of the most storied lacrosse programs on Long Island and land at number seven in the LILJ preseason rankings. This year they are back to defend their Class B Long Island Championship after taking down Comsewogue. They are led by longtime Head Coach Steve Finnell who guided them to their third LIC in the past four years and a New York State Championship as recently as 2018. Coach Finnell says that the team is excited to compete in a full season which has not happened since 2019.
The team coming back to defend the title will be a lot different with so many players graduating in 2021. They are without their attack unit of Ryan Connolly, Tommy Engelke, and Jack Downey. This trio was heavily relied on last season, combining to tally 95 points. They will also be without midfielders Bobby Seel, Pierce Archer, Gerard O’Connor, and Mike Deluca. It won’t be an easy task replacing players of their caliber, but a couple of players that could really have big seasons are midfielders Luke Schmitt (Providence), Jay Ottomanelli (Trinity), and Stevie Finnell (Syracuse). Schmitt recorded six goals and four assists for 10 points as a junior, and Finnell scored six goals with two assists for eight points. He also showed what he can do on the defensive side, causing four turnovers. The team will also get back junior midfielder Jack Archer who is coming off of an injury last year. Aidan Considine is one young gun that could potentially get playing time at midfield.
Two significant returning players are All-American FOGO Jack Cascadden (Cornell), and All-American defenseman Brendan Staub (Cornell). Cascadden is one of the top FOGO’s on the island and also chipped in with eight goals. Staub is an elite defenseman who is extremely versatile and will do whatever it takes to win. He will be the leader and anchor of a defense that will be without 2021 graduate James Costello. Garden City primarily hangs their hat on the defensive end and had arguably the best defense in Nassau County, allowing just over five goals per game. A huge part of that was because of the great play in the net by goalie Drew Quinn who was another one of their 2021 graduates. Quinn finished with a save percentage around 65%. This will present an opportunity for Garden City’s deep goalie core to compete for game action in 2022. These three goalies include Chris Allen (Senior), Patrick Blum (Junior, Lafayette) & sophomore Denis Fargione.
Besides depth in goal, great face-off play and one of the top cover guys on the island, Garden City’s defense has some serious talent. Tristan Mullahey (Navy), Cole Weber (UVA) , Matt Kephart, And Will Peters are a few of the pieces for the Trojan defensive puzzle that always seems so difficult to figure out.
The Trojans will play against some top notch teams in both Nassau and Suffolk. Their notable games are as followed:
Ward Melville @ Garden City (3/24)
Garden City @ Syosset (3/29)
CSH @ Garden City (4/14)
Mt. Sinai @ Garden City (at St. Anthony’s 4/22)
Garden City @ Manhasset (4/30)
Throughout the years the program has had a bevy of notable alumni who played at high level colleges across the country. Here are former players that once wore the Trojan uniform.
Devin Dwyer ’12 (Harvard)
Stephen Jahelka ’11 (Harvard)
Justin Guterding ’13 (Duke, PLL)
Andy Kraus ’86 (UVA)
Brian Fischer ’11 (Harvard)
Tommy Wright ’15 (Penn State)
James Sullivan ’15 (Harvard)
Colin Hart ’19 (Brown)
Trevor Yeboah-Kodie ’19 (Brown)
Tom Flatley ’59 (Former JV Head Coach from 1985-2014)
