Coming at No.2 in our top 20 team rankings are the Garden City Trojans, another one of Long island’s high school lacrosse programs that has seen plenty of success over the years. After seeing their season end in what was historic six overtime game in the Long Island Championship, they will be aiming to finish the job this season and bring home what they hope will be both a Long Island and state championship. Head Coach Dave Ettinger enters his third season as coach and has been in the LIC each of his first two years. He says that the girls have worked very hard during the offseason and he hopes that they have a very balanced team.
The attack unit features one of the elite 2025’s Kyle Finnell who is in store for a massive sophomore season after a freshman campaign in which she broke out as the team’s leading scorer with 37 goals and also 15 assists for 52 points. Finnell has looked unguardable at times and looks ready to pick up right where she left off after having a dominant winter. Grace Hopkins the UChiacago bound senior returns as a team captain and will play a pivotal role with her skill set as one of the team’s best distributors of the ball.
At the midfield they are led by senior captain Marie Cacciabaudo the Virginia Tech commit who had 34 goals last season. Adding to their key returning midfielders is the sophomore Tori Ottomanelli. She played impactful minutes in 2022 where she showed supreme confidence in her game, scoring 11 goals and was on the field during pivotal moments in close games. Kendal Morris the future Sun Devil will also be a key component to the midfield unit this year.
On the defensive end the Trojans will be one of the best in the county and on the island with the returns of Mabel Overbeck, team captain Ariana Bransfield (Catholic), Emily Romeo (Binghamton), and Rory Heslin. Overbeck the junior who is committed to Duke is one of the premier defenders in the class of 2024 as a shutdown on-ball defender that takes away opponents comfort zones. Overbeck can also go end to end untouched when clearing the ball. The defense will be playing in front of goalies Niam Pfaff (Yale) and Cece Van Blenis (UMW) who could be splitting the goalie responsibilities after doing so in the high school winter league.
This year they will be without some key graduates who were in the class of 2022. With the absence of Meghan Rode, Caitlin McNaboe, Carla Curth, Kristen Hegarty, Amanda Grimes, and Kasey Prybylski, this will be an opportunity for others to play more meaningful minutes. Of their young guns, Regan Backer who already showed that she is a varsity level talent going back to the seventh grade, will have an elevated role this season as a freshman. Expect for junior Maureen Arendt (Colgate) who had 14 points last season to also be another valuable contributor to the team.
To open the season Garden City will be tested right out the gate with a non-league matchup against Ward Melville on March 27th. Throughout the season some of their notable matchups in the Power Conference include Long Beach (4/3), Massapequa (4/19), Wantagh (4/22), Cold Spring Harbor (5/2), and Manhasset (5/6). They will also play some of the best competition against teams out of state including Rador (PA), Garrison Forest (MD), Suffern (CT), and New Canaan (CT).
