Garden City Scores Fourth Straight Long Island Lacrosse Championship

Justin Guterding had three goals and an assist as one of five different Trojans to score in Garden City's 9-4 win over Miller Place on Saturday in the Class B Long Island boys' lacrosse championship.

Just days after they finished off rival Manhasset for their eighth consecutive Nassau County title, the Trojans captured their fourth straight Long Island crown and will head to Marist on Wednesday to play Niscayuna in the New York state semifinals.

The teams started out by feeling each other out for most of the first quarter before Guterding scored with 14 seconds left.

"I think after the first quarter, the guys shook out their nerves a little bit," Guterding said. "We just needed to relax, move the ball around, have fun and stay loose, and that’s what we did."

Cody George, Dale Stasco, and Lucas Clay added goals for Garden City (17-3) in the second quarter. James Nielsen put Miller Place (14-6) on the board with 4:21 left in the second, and after Gutderding scored a second time, it was Ryan Callahan's turn to score for Miller Place. Garden City led 5-2 at halftime and never looked back.

"We made some mistakes, some mental errors," Miller Place coach Keith Lizzi said. "They’ve got great finishers, they were aggressive on ground balls, and they were able to push us to a place where they were able to capitalize." 

Clay and George each totaled two goals each and Ed Blatz added one for the Trojans. Dan Dolan made four saves goal.

Looking ahead to Wednesday's semifinal against Niskayuna, Garden City head coach Steve Finnell said: "We’re going to have a real tough game on Wednesday."

But they've had plenty of preparation, particularly with their offensive strategy.

"We’re just trying to be unselfish as much as we can," he said. "... We’re getting great looks at the cage and playing a lot better now. We hope that people feel they’ve got to stop several people on our team, not just one or two guys."