Wantagh holds off Garden City

The tide appears to be turning in the girls’ lacrosse rivalry between Wantagh and Garden City.

For a second straight year, third-seeded Wantagh scored the first four goals of their Nassau Class B semifinal matchup, got stellar goaltending from Grace Beshlian, and never trailed on the way to knocking off No. 2 Garden City, 8-7, at Adelphi University on May 20. Junior Nicole Sliwak scored four goals and sophomore Taylor Carson had a goal and two assists for the Lady Warriors, who possessed the ball for almost all of the final 8:56 after the Lady Trojans got within one on Michaela Bruno’s goal.

“We brought a lot of intensity into this game and it was a big factor in us coming out with a win,” said Beshlian, who made eight saves, including two key stops in crunch time. “You can never let your guard down against a team like Garden City,” she added. “We’ve got some girls who can really run, so that’s helpful when you’re trying to protect the lead.”

Junior Madison Conway and sophomores Ally Murphy and Megan Gordon also scored for Wantagh, which last spring snapped a 19-game losing streak against Garden City with a 7-5 victory in the semifinals. The Lady Trojans, who won this year’s regular-season meeting, 11-6, on April 28, got two goals apiece from Katie Muldoon and Margot McTiernan.

“It’s unusual to go into possession mode with so much time left, but Garden City had momentum and we wanted to keep the ball in their zone as much as we could,” said Wantagh coach Jaclyn Coyne, whose team advanced to meet two-time defending county champion Manhasset in a title game rematch on Wednesday night at Adelphi.

“We worked on ball possession in practice yesterday so it was fresh in their minds,” Coyne added. “Every girl really dug down deep and showed they can handle big-time pressure.”

The Lady Warriors (16-2), who lost six of seven county finals to Garden City in an eight-year span ending in 2012, dominated time-of-possession in a near-perfect first-half performance capped by Sliwak’s third goal with 11.6 seconds remaining for a 6-2 lead. Conway, Sliwak, Murphy and Carson all scored in the first 11 minutes, while seniors Shea Weber, Emily Bauer and Carly Cullen led the defensive effort.

“The important thing for us coming out of halftime was the first couple of minutes,” Coyne said. “I thought we did a good job early in the second half, but you always have to be on your toes against Garden City and keep your heads up when they’re making that push.”

Sliwak scored 61 seconds into the second half to up the margin to five, but Garden City answered with five of the next six goals. However, Gordon’s tally off a feed from Carson with 12:56 to go held up as the winner.

“We’re excited to get back to the finals, but this year we want to finish the job,” Beshlian said.