Gordon gets it done without Dwyer in Garden City win
Garden City HS's Tom Gordon scores on Smithtown's goalie Dominic Gianino late in the fourth quarter to give his team a 6-5 victory. (April 3, 2010) Credit: Photo by Bob Mitchell
With the player who usually dishes him nice passes sidelined for most of the fourth quarter with an injury, Garden City midfielder Tom Gordon felt a little out of sorts.
He missed two potential go-ahead shots with the score tied late against Smithtown West. And Gordon couldn't help but think of attackman Devin Dwyer, with whom he's played since the third grade. Dwyer, the Trojans' assists leader, was on the bench with an apparent shoulder injury.
"Devin and me go way back," Gordon said. "He got hurt and I wasn't hitting a few. But I just kept my head up and stung it."
The "it," was the winner. Gordon's righthanded 10-yard shot from the left wing with 23 seconds left gave Garden City a 6-5 lacrosse win over host Smithtown West last night.
Matt Montgomery drew a double team in the middle of the field before feeding Gordon. And the Trojans erupted in celebration. "It's a big win," Gordon (two goals) said of the intercounty matchup of two nationally ranked teams.
Garden City (2-0) overcame a 4-1 halftime deficit and went ahead 5-4 with 5:31 left on Patric Berkery's on-the-run goal. But Smithtown West attackman James Pannell tied the score at 5 a little more than a minute later.
Montgomery forced a turnover in the defensive zone to give Garden City its final scoring chance. The Trojans called timeout with 44 seconds remaining to set up a play. After Gordon, a junior, tallied the winner, Smithtown West (2-1) was unable to gain possession on the ensuing faceoff with enough time to get a shot off.
"They switched out of the conference, but that would have been a heck of a Long Island championship," Garden City defender Stephen Jahelka said, referring to the fact that Smithtown West (ranked No. 13 in by Inside Lacrosse) is a Class A school and the Trojans (No. 3) are a "B" team.
Jahelka guarded Pannell much of the game and defenseman Brian Fischer was assigned to the Bulls' other top scoring threat, Kyle Keenan. Keenan scored unassisted 1:06 into the first quarter.
Brett Madarasz put the Bulls up 4-1 with 1:45 left in the half before Garden City went on a 4-0 run that stretched into the fourth quarter. Dwyer, whose status was unknown after the game, coach Steve Finnell said, had two third-quarter goals and was injured on a hit after scoring the first one. He was on the field as a decoy for Gordon's winning shot.
Sarra Sounds Off, Ep. 28: Baseball, Softball and Plays of the Week! On the latest episode of "Sarra Sounds Off," we check in with Matt Lindsay at Mount Sinai and their new baseball coach Eric Strovink, Chris Matias is with the Floral Park softball team and their star pitcher Chloe Zielinski and Jared Valluzzi has the plays of the week.
Sarra Sounds Off, Ep. 28: Baseball, Softball and Plays of the Week! On the latest episode of "Sarra Sounds Off," we check in with Matt Lindsay at Mount Sinai and their new baseball coach Eric Strovink, Chris Matias is with the Floral Park softball team and their star pitcher Chloe Zielinski and Jared Valluzzi has the plays of the week.
