Long Beach falls to Garden City

The third time wasn’t a charm for Long Beach.

Girls’ lacrosse powerhouse Garden City made it four straight Nassau Class B championships, including three in a row over the Marines in the finals, and 23rd county title overall, with a 9-2 victory at Adelphi University’s Motamed Field Wednesday afternoon.

The Trojans, who defeated Long Beach by identical 9-8 scores in the 2022 and 2023 championship games, never trailed in this one and didn’t allow a goal in three of four quarters.

Averie Smith had a hat trick and Kyle Finnell added two goals as top-seeded Garden City improved to 18-1 and advanced to play West Islip for the Long Island Class B crown. Senior Ava Main and sophomore Sienna Warren scored for No. 2 Long Beach, which finished 10-8.

“We played a lot of defense and I thought we did a solid job holding an explosive offense to nine goals,” Long Beach coach Rachel Ray said. “We only had eight shot attempts and their goalie made three great saves when she needed to. Garden City changed its whole game plan. They respected us and played keep-away.”

Smith, Victoria Ottomanelli and Maureen Arendt scored in the opening quarter to give the Trojans all the offense they would need. Warren scored 1:21 into the second quarter, but Garden City answered with a pair of goals before Main made it 5-2 just before halftime.

“We were down three goals against them during the regular season also,” said Ray, referring to Long Beach’s 12-4 loss April 11. “So we were within striking distance both times, but Garden City is such an insanely deep team. The girls played hard right down to the end.”

The matchup featured two of the top goaltenders in the county. Garden City senior Niamh Pfaff and Long Beach senior Emily Backlin.

“We graduate a small group but we’re really going to miss them,” Ray said of the Marines’ six seniors.

Backlin, who is headed to Binghampton, and Main, bound for James Madison, were both Honorable Mention All-Americans last spring and earned All-County honors once again this season. Backlin made over 100 saves and Main had 24 goals and 40 assists.

“Ava is a rare student-athlete who excels in everything,” Ray said. “She’s been on varsity since eighth grade and is an outstanding playmaker and leader. I can’t say enough about her.”

The Marines will also need to replace Ella Timperio, an All-Conference attack who had 22 goals, defender Kaitlin Buonocore, the team’s unsung hero award winner, defender Molly Duffy, and attack Keira Fontaine.

All-County selections Delaney Chernoff (34 goals, 33 assists) and defender Taryn Morris will return to lead next year’s group along with Warren (28 goals), Skylar Kilfeather (27 goals, 15 assists) and Anala Teemer, who scored a dozen.

Long Beach notched playoff wins over Carey, 18-2, and Mepham, 12-6. Fontaine’s hat trick highlighted the quarterfinal victory over Carey; Warren (four) and Kilfeather combined for seven goals and Main had five assists in the semifinals versus Mepham.