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Garden City surprisingly shuts down Syosset

Garden City v Syosset HS varsity boys' lacrosse

Syosset's Matt Albert (left) attempts to get past Garden City's Steve Hucke during a varsity boys lacrosse game. (Photo by James A. Escher / March 19, 2008)

BY DARREN SANDS | darren.sands@newsday.com

March 19, 2008

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Any trace of anticipation that surrounded the first game of the season Tuesday between Syosset and Garden City gave way to an air of two levels of confusion during a play in the waning minutes of the first quarter.

On the play, the ball deflected off Syosset boys lacrosse goalie Evan Cohen inside the crease and bounced into the goal, prompting questions about who scored it, until an assistant coach made it clear that the goal went to senior attack Jon Muscarella.

But the larger question was how Syosset, ranked No.1 in Nassau Class A in the preseason, could give up five goals to Garden City, ranked No.1 in Class B, before scoring one? How could Jeff Cohen, one of the top players on Long Island, be held scoreless?

No one would have predicted the ease with which Garden City handled Syosset. The Trojans got three goals each from Francis McDonough and Will Fuller to help down Syosset, 10-2, in a non-league game.

"They were eight goals better than us today," Syosset coach John Calabria said. "They took us out of our game."

Syosset's Jared Leverne scored 1:42 into the third quarter, finally cutting into Garden City's 7-0 lead. But McDonough galloped through Syosset's defense after the ensuing faceoff and scored 26 seconds later, making the score 8-1 and effectively stifling any sort of a Braves' comeback.

"We were coming off of a couple of bad scrimmages," said McDonough, who added that the Trojans were sloppy in a scrimmage against St. Anthony's. "Now we're playing a little better. Our defense played great."

Garden City defender Will Manning helped hold Cohen scoreless, and freshman midfielder Tom Gordon had two assists.

"We thought it was going to be a tight game all the way," Garden City coach Steve Finnell said. "I was very pleased with our execution."

Garden City has a difficult non-league schedule that continues Saturday with Georgetown Prep (5-0), which is ranked fifth in the STX/Inside Lacrosse Top 25 poll, at the Boys' Latin (Md.) Invitational. Their other opponents include St. Paul's (Md.), Delbarton (N.J.), Smithtown West and Ward Melville.

"We're going to have our hands full," Finnell said. "Our ideal [situation] is to play the best teams around and hopefully that'll get us ready for the playoffs."