Monday, December 2, 2024
The South Side girls’ soccer team was less than 30 minutes from a repeat county championship before Garden City quickly showed why it entered last Friday’s Class AA finals with only one loss.
fter being held off the scoreboard for the match’s first 50 minutes, the top-seeded Trojans (15-1-4) struck for two goals in a less than three minute stretch en route to a 2-1 championship win marking the program’s first county title since 2016. Second-seeded South Side, which had defeated MacArthur 2-0 in the Class AA semifinals on Oct. 29, saw its season end at 9-5-2 .
“I’m proud of the team,” said South Side head coach Judi Croutier moments after the season-ending loss at Farmingdale State College. “They fought really hard and just came up one goal short.”
Garden City tied the match at 1-1 on a goal by Meaghan Lynch with 29:44 left in the second half when she knocked a shot into the bottom left corner of the net off a pass from Chloe Benik.
The Trojans then converted the eventual winning goal with 26:52 left when Sienna Castellano scored off a rebound from a shot by LeeLee Gaffney that hit the post.
The country finals match played during unseasonably warm weather for Nov. 1. Marked a rematch of last year’s Class AA championship where the Cyclones knocked off Garden City 1-0 in overtime. Garden City’s triumph Friday advanced it to the Long Island Class AA final on Election Day evening at Hofstra against Suffolk County champion West Islip.
South Side took the lead with 13:05 left in the first half when Juliana Feranda scored off an assist from Brooke Doreste. Feranda took advantage of Garden City keeper Marisa Patrissi getting out of position when she charged toward the ball and placed a shot into an open net from around 18 yards away.
The Cyclones defense stood strong for much of the match against an explosive Garden City offense that has tallied three goals or more in nine matches this season. The backline, which recorded a clean sheet in the semifinals against MacArthur included Viv Haley, Molly Barry, Taylor Hansman, Sienna Connolly and Katori Martin. Junior goalkeeper Abby Gruner recorded three saves.
“The defense was great and they played hard,” Croutier said. “They had a lot of things coming down at them.”
The MacArthur win held at Cold Spring Harbor High School featured a first half goal by Feranda and an insurance tally in the second half by senior Jules Roberts. Senior Sarah Schaefer also had an assist and Gruner registered seven saves in the shutout victory to help advance South Side to the championship stage for a second straight fall.
The Garden City defeat ended the South Side career of six seniors in Charlotte Rathjen, Connolly, Hansman, Roberts, Sarah Schaefer, Lindsey Martorana and Jules Robert, who Croutier said left an indelible mark on the program.
“The six seniors are amazing,” she said. “They really helped lead this team.”
