Garden City tops Yorktown, heads to final

WHITE PLAINS -- Devin Dwyer's boyish grin belied his angst.

He and Garden City were good enough to advance to a second straight state final, but the junior attack knows what's on the horizon.

First things first. Dwyer scored three goals with two assists, and the Trojans earned a 10-8 victory over Yorktown (Sec. I) at White Plains High Wednesday evening. The game was pushed back an hour because of the extreme heat, but still was played with temperatures in the mid-80s.

Tom Gordon had three goals and one assist, Liam Kennedy scored twice, and Rob Savage had two assists.

Garden City (19-2) will play Jamesville DeWitt at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday at Cicero-North Syracuse High. The game will be a rematch of last year's final, which J-D won, 11-5. The Red Rams have won 43 straight games. Said defender Brian Fischer: "Jamesville DeWitt is an unbelievable team. If we play like this on Saturday, we may lose."

The Trojans didn't shut the door on Yorktown (14-8) until killing a penalty that began with just over two minutes left. Garden City had a two-goal lead, its largest of the game, it attained when Dwyer intercepted a pass and fed Kennedy with 2:42 to play. Dwyer also scored on the man-up 30 seconds into the fourth to make it 9-7.

"It was important that we didn't trail in the second half," Trojans coach Steve Finnell said. "It's very hard to catch up when you expend that much energy on a hot, humid night."

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Garden City has won 15 in a row by a combined 178-46. The Trojans had allowed no more than six goals in any game during the streak, so giving up eight Wednesday stuck in the craw of the GC players despite their celebrations. "We had only been letting up 3.5 goals per game or whatever it was," Dwyer said. "I think we might have taken them a bit lightly."

Yorktown is 0-4 against Long Island teams with losses to Smithtown West, Chaminade, St. Anthony's and now the Trojans. But the Huskers didn't play like a team afraid.

The Huskers dominated the faceoff X, winning 14 of 20, and scored the game's first three goals, including Ty Schuldt's score off a faceoff just six seconds after their second goal.

Yet Fischer held the Hartford-bound Schuldt without a point the rest of the way. Said Fischer: "It's about the team's defensive effort, not about my individual matchup."

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Dwyer tied the game at 5 on an unassisted goal from behind the cage, and then Gordon gave the Trojans a brief 6-5 lead on an assist from Savage with 4:37 left in the half. Frank Fusco's low rip under goalie Dan Marino's stick tied it at 6 with 1:12 left before halftime. Marino, however, was otherwise stout, with 14 saves.

Gordon's transition goal 1:40 into the third made it 7-6 and the Trojans never trailed again.

Yet, according to Dwyer, Garden City better get off to a quicker start on Saturday. Said Dwyer: "We need to pick up the intensity."