South Side drops county final

South Side’s hopes for a repeat Nassau County Class A girls’ soccer title were dashed by top-seeded Garden City on Nov. 3, 1-0, in the championship game at Cold Spring Harbor High School.

The Lady Trojans got a picture-perfect goal from Isabel Klatt in the 32nd minute and held on for their second county crown in three years. Klatt, positioned 10 yards in front of the cage, shrugged off a couple of defenders and headed in a crossing pass from Kelly Donovan. 

“When the ball came in, I knew I had to get some body part on it,” said Klatt, who had a goal and two assists in Garden City’s 4-2 regular-season victory over South Side on Oct. 6. “So I just went up for it and it went great from there,” she added.

In posting a fourth consecutive playoff shutout, goalkeeper Caroline Peppard turned away all six shots she faced. The third-seeded Lady Cyclones (8-5-4) had a goal by Maggie Modico disallowed 14 minutes into the game on a questionable whistle for offside. Alex McNicholas dribbled 30 yards and sent a pass into the box for Lindsay Tighe, who redirected it to Mahoney, who deflected it past Peppard. Players on the field and bench celebrated for five seconds before they realized the goal didn’t count.

“It was too difficult to tell if anyone was offside from the vantage point we had from the bench,” South Side coach Shannon McEntee said. “We thought we scored.” 

It’s the sixth straight season Garden City (12-1-3) and South Side battled for the county championship. The teams have combined for four of the last five state crowns. “South Side came at us strong in the second half,” Garden City coach Mike Heedles said. “It’s tough to have success against a team like that three times. It’s a great rivalry. We tied them early in the season and found a way to beat them twice.” 

The Lady Cyclones, who were Long Island champs and state runners-up a year ago, returned to the county finals by defeating Division, Bethpage and Wantagh. The goal by Klatt was the only shot in the playoffs to elude junior goalkeeper Kayla Klarides, who made nine saves including a direct kick blast off the foot of Kerry Defliese with 22 minutes left.

Klarides finished the campaign with 129 saves, including 11 in a 1-0 victory over Wantagh in the semifinals, and earned All-County honors.

Tighe had the game-winning goal in the semifinals, while McNicholas netted the winner in the quarterfinals against Bethpage after recording a hat trick and one assist in the opening round versus Division.

In addition to Klarides, Ally Diez and Juliana Klaum were named All-County. McNicholas, Gabby Lucas and Katernine Parker earned All-Class honors, Alexandra Churma and Carrie Whelan were All-Conference, and Audrey Walsh was the team’s Scholar Athlete.

“The girls played extremely hard and I’m proud of them,” McEntee said. “It’s exciting that we’re bringing back 20 players next year.”