Garden City Girls Lax Tops Lynbrook in Quarterfinals

The Garden City Trojans girls lacrosse team's state title defense continued Thursday afternoon with an 18-2 victory over the Lynbrook Owls at Warren King Field.

The win sends the Trojans, who are the six-time defending state champions, to the Nassau County Class B semifinals.

It took Garden City less than one minute to find the net. Senior captain Catherine Dickinson scored the first goal of the afternoon, quickly attacking the net on the Trojans' first possession. The goal set the tone for the rest of the afternoon. 

The Trojans quick, aggressive style proved difficult to stop. Garden City led 5-0 after the first five minutes of play.

"I think anytime you can control the game from the beginning, it's [a good thing]," Garden City head coach Diane Chapman said. "It helped us set a tone. We got the momentum going and were able to score some quick goals."

Garden City is best defined by their balanced scoring attack. Eleven Trojans lit up the scoreboard before the 50 minutes were up. Dickinson, Alexandra Bruno, and Krista Dampman all finished with three goals.

"It was a great team effort," Chapman said. "It's great, in the postseason, to see that that's occurring because that's what we want."

Lynbrook goals were scored by Chandley Borges and Adrienne Germanakos.

Down 13-2 at the half, Lynbrook head coach Vincent Tetro spoke to his team about playing with the same amount of intensity and desire as they would in a tie game. Although the Owls failed to register a second-half goal, Tetro was pleased with his team's effort. 

"We wanted to approach it without looking at the scoreboard and play hard all the way to the end," Tetro said of the second half. "That's what we're about -- playing with heart and making sure we don't give up, no matter what the score is. ... We always want to learn and get better."

Tetro attributed the quick deficit to the Garden City's strong transition game. 

"Their transitions were really fast," he said. "They move the ball extremely well. They see the field [well] and we just didn't keep up with them in the beginning."

The Trojans scored five goals in the second half, further showcasing their depth with late-game contributions from freshman Morgayne Rix, and sophomores Tara DeAngelo and Kathrine Malhame. 

The convincing victory won't do anything to slow the Trojans' preparation for next weeks semifinal. Moments after the final gun sounded, talk on the sideline shifted to the early-morning weekend practice times. 

"We have to keep the momentum and effort going,: Chapman said. "You're only as strong as your strongest player and as weak as your weakest player. We have to continue to make sure we're working hard together."

Garden City will play Long Beach in the semifinals on Wednesday afternoon at Adelphi University.