Panthers Fall in First-Ever Long Island Championship Appearance

Four years ago, the Garden City Trojans captured what would be the first of four straight Class B Long Island boys' lacrosse titles.

Four years ago, the boys from Miller Place were playing their first-ever varsity season. Period.

That's why even though the Panthers took a 9-4 loss on Saturday in their first-ever Class B Long Island championship appearance, Miller Place coach Keith Lizzi focused on the positive.

"We set the bar for this program," he said. "There’s going to be a certain expectation of not necessarily getting here, but of ability in this program. We showed them we can do it. We can build on this."

Miller Place (14-6) fell behind late in the first quarter as Garden City's Justin Guterding scored with 14 seconds left, and Cody George, Dale Stasco, and Lucas Clay added goals in the second quarter. James Nielsen put Miller Place 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 (17-3) led 5-2 at halftime and never looked back.

"We made some mistakes, some mental errors," 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."

Jake Buonaiuto and Austin Yezarski each added goals for the Panthers, and Matt Liantonio – who along with his friend and teammate Nielsen will play lacrosse for Cortland next year – made nine saves.

After the game, even Garden City tipped their hats off to Miller Place.

"Great story. Fourth year and they’re in the Long Island championship, that’s pretty scary," Garden City's Guterding said. "We were really honored to play them."