Garden City field hockey wins its fifth straight LI Class B championship
Garden City celebrates after defeating Eastport-South Manor in the Long Island Class B field hockey championship on Sunday at Sachem East. Credit: Bob Sorensen
It’s been a season of milestones for Garden City field hockey’s first-year coach Amanda Lee. Now, she can add ‘Long Island champion’ to the list.
Garden City won its fifth straight Long Island Class B championship in a 2-1 decision over Eastport-South Manor on Sunday at Sachem East.
“This is just amazing and I really couldn’t do it without these girls and this coaching staff,” Lee said. “Every win with this team is important, which is what makes every day so exciting.”
Garden City advances to the state semifinals, where it will face the winner of Greeley (Section I) and Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake (Section II) at noon Saturday at Arlington High School. Eastport-South Manor finished 19-2.
Sophomore Delaney McNaboe scored both goals for Garden City in the first and fourth quarters.
The first came when Casey Psaki controlled the ball at the stroke line and sent it toward the right side of the cage. In a diving effort, McNaboe deflected the ball into the right corner and gave the Trojans their first lead with 3:50 remaining in the first quarter.
“We always try to start strong and finish early,” McNaboe said. “That goal really brought up our momentum and made us hungry for even more.”
But Garden City didn’t hold that lead for long. When Eastport-South Manor earned its first penalty corner with five minutes left in the second quarter, it looked like something out of a textbook.
Kate Valenti inserted the ball to Taylor Murtha at the top of the circle. Murtha sent the ball to Molly McGuire on the left side, who found Katelynn Murtha waiting to finish against the left post. Murtha’s goal tied it 1-1 with 4:30 remaining in the first half.
But Garden City couldn’t settle for a tie. McNaboe pulled it off again 4:26 into the final frame. When Emily Racich sent the ball into a scrum in front of the cage, McNaboe chipped it high over Sharks goalkeeper Madison Heaney’s head and into the back of the cage to put the Trojans back in the lead, 2-1.
“It was amazing,” McNaboe said. “I don’t even have words for it. We said at halftime that we need to get one more. There was no other option and to actually get it done was surreal.”
With 25 seconds remaining, Eastport-South Manor attempted to pull Heaney from the cage to get an extra striker on the field, but the NFHCA enforces having a goalkeeper on the field at all times. The clock wound down, and the Trojans were victorious.
“We couldn’t have been more prepared for this,” Garden City goalkeeper Shae McGovern said. “I mean, I can say I practice with Long Island champions every single day. We have such great competition at practice that I knew we could pull this off.”
