South Side Advances to Class C Semifinals with 9-8 win over Seaford

The fifth seeded Cyclones have advanced to Nassau Class C Semifinals after yesterday’s 9-8 victory over fourth seeded Seaford. The win comes just a little less than three weeks after a 14-7 defeat against the Vikings. This time around South Side was fueled by Caitlin Haggerty’s four goals as well as Charlotte Rathjen’s two goals and one assist. Defensively they were sparked by a multitude of players including Sienna Connolly and goalie Kyla Murphy who each stepped up with big plays throughout different points of this tightly contested matchup. The next time the Cyclones will be in action is this Friday at 5:30 at Adelphi University against the top seed in Class C the North Shore Vikings.

The early stages of the game were in favor of Seaford who jumped out to a 3-1 lead with two goals coming from sophomore Jess Grzelaczyk, and one from junior Amanda Williamson. South Side managed to erase that two goal deficit as Caitlin Haggerty gave a pump fake and found the back of the net to cut it to one, followed by Charlotte Rathjen assisting Avery Testa to tie the game at three. Both teams traded goals, and in a 4-4 game with 20 seconds remaining in the half, Kyla Murphy denied Seaford the go-ahead goal, and a textbook clear turned into a goal for freshman Ava Curtis at the buzzer to swing the momentum and give South Side a 5-4 lead going into halftime. In the second half it was more of the same as neither team was able to grab a lead of more than one goal. Seaford scored the first two goals of the second half to take a 6-5 edge, the first coming from Grzelaczyk’s third of the game to tie it, and Sophia Santella stinging one right in front of the crease on the feed from Danielle McHugh to put the Vikings in front. Once again the two teams traded goals, and with Seaford leading 7-6, Annie Madden got her hands free and finished down low to even up the game at seven with just over 12 minutes remaining. The game would once again become tied at eight with 5:40 on the clock, and that’s when Haggerty scored her fourth goal of the game on a free-position shot which would prove to be the game winner for the Cyclones, giving them a 9-8 lead. Seaford had one more opportunity to force overtime in the closing seconds, but Maddie O’Hagan’s game tying shot was saved by Murphy for her eighth of the game as time expired. A victory on Friday against North Shore would give South Side their second appearance in the County Finals in the previous three seasons.