For the second consecutive season Long Beach and Garden City matched up in the Nassau Class B County Finals and once again it was top seeded Garden City coming away victorious by a singular goal. The 9-8 win for the Trojans sends them to their third consecutive Long Island Championship where they will be facing the West Islip Lions for the opportunity to head to Cortland to play for the New York State Championship.
The initial stages of the game set the tone for this one going down to the wire as Maureen Arendt scored the game’s first goal, followed by two straight scored for Long Beach by Delaney Chernoff to give the Marines a 2-1 lead. Garden City proceeded to rattle off three straight with two from Tori Ottomanelli and one from Kyle Finnell giving the Trojans a 4-2 advantage. The defense of Long Beach, particularly from two-way midfielder Ava Main kept them within striking distance, and with a 5-3 deficit with 8:45 remaining Main would cause a turnover and push the tempo in transition which led to a goal by Keira Bauer. Chernoff would go on to score her third of the game to even the score at five, but with just under three minutes remaining Arcangela Haffner came through X and tucked a high to low shot through the back of the net giving Garden City a 6-5 edge going into halftime.
Opening the second half it was the future Florida Gator Delaney Radin scoring on an inside roll bringing the game to an even 6-6 score before Ottomanelli capped off a hat-trick on a free-position shot to put Garden City right back in front. After a score for Long Beach by freshman Sky Kilfeather and Arendt for Garden City, The Marines came back with the equalizer as Kilfeather assisted Ella Timperio for a split-dodge goal squaring the game at eight. Long Beach had an opportunity to take the lead down the stretch, but goalie Niam Pfaff came up with a significant caused turnover leading to a timeout taken by the Trojans. Garden City ultimately capitalized as Kendal Morris came with a righty stinger on the run from Marie Cacciabaudo which proved to be the difference maker. The Marines would get one final possession with 19 seconds remaining after an illegal stick was called on Garden City, but they were unable to get a clean shot attempt in time to force overtime.
Defensively the Trojans played a phenomenal second half game, only allowing three goals led by defenders Ariana Bransfield, Mabel Overbeck, Emily Romeo, and goalie Niamh Pfaff. Long Beach got six saves in the game from goalie Emily Backlin.
The Class B Long Island Championship game will be Sunday, June 4th at Adelphi University against West Islip at 1:30.
