Teddy Dolan comes up big in goal, leads Garden City to Nassau Class B crown

Teddy Dolan, under siege the entire fourth quarter, had just made his final save and as he watched Garden City clear the ball out of danger, he knew the next onslaught would be his teammates swarming to congratulate and pummel him.

“My first thought after that save was to look to the crowd and pump them up. Then I looked to Phil Puccio [a Garden City defenseman] and pumped him,” Dolan said. “We’re county champions, baby!”

Dolan made 10 saves, including two in the final two minutes plus one spectacular stop in the final minute of the first quarter, to help Garden City survive a Manhasset rally in an 8-6 victory Tuesday night at Hofstra that gave the Trojans back-to-back Nassau B championships.

Dolan stopped high-scoring Kevin Mack from in close with under a minute to play that closed out the Indians, who scored four straight goals in the fourth quarter to cut their deficit to 7-6. “He came around, pushing hard to the right,” Dolan said. “He shot stick side high and I got a piece of it.”

Earlier, Dolan had outright robbed John Psyllos all alone on the doorstep with 40 seconds left in the first quarter to preserve a 2-1 lead. The Trojans (15-3) scored the next five goals, two by Jamie Atkinson (who had a hat trick), and led 7-2 entering the fourth quarter.

The deliberate pace seemed to favor the Trojans. “Everyone thinks we play slow,” Garden City coach Steve Finnell said. “But I say we’re trying to play intelligent. We dictated tempo. Our team defense was outstanding and Teddy was sensational.”

The Garden City defense was tested late. Louis Perfetto scored three fourth-quarter goals and Steve Schneider added one during a 4-0 burst for the Indians (15-2). “We knew they could get on a ride. It was scary at times,” Dolan said.

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Garden City didn’t play scared during a key extra-man scenario. For the second time in the game, Luke Keating cut hard to the cage and quick-sticked home a goal, this one on a pinpoint pass from Finn Gibbons. J.P. Basile was the feeder on Keating’s first goal.

“He’s really good on that play,” Atkinson said. “When they push out on defense, Luke cuts to the cage. Our plan was to stop their transition game and stop 32 (Schneider) and 22 (Mack). We did a pretty good job.”

Schneider had two goals and Mack had an assist. “You know Manhasset wasn’t waving any white flags,” Finnell said of Garden City’s rival, which had won the regular-season meeting, 10-8.

It was the second championship in two days for the Dolans. His brother Danny is a reserve goalie for Maryland, which won the NCAA men’s lacrosse championship on Monday. “Great times,” Teddy Dolan said.