Bruno, McTiernan pace Garden City in state FH

SYRACUSE - Garden City made the waning minutes of a game interesting this time. Rather, Pittsford Sutherland did, scoring twice in the final four minutes to pull within a goal and ruffle the Trojans a bit.

But really, the goals were little more than scoreboard sugarcoating - 3-2 - as Garden City thoroughly outplayed the Knights for 56 minutes Friday in a state Class B semifinal.

Catherine McTiernan got the first goal and Alex Bruno scored twice to give the Trojans a 3-0 cushion.

"I'm happy about the win, but there were mental errors we have to fix," Trojans coach Diane Chapman said. "If they'd played like they did the last few minutes the whole game, it would be a different story."

Fortunately for Garden City (19-0-1), the story is their push for a seventh state title. The Trojans face Lakeland at noon Saturday. The Trojans won it all in 2008 but were upset by Lakeland in the semifinals last year.

"This [win] is big," Bruno said. "We didn't get this far a year ago and then we lose two All-Americans . . . I think we surprised some people."

McTiernan, off a deflection, put Garden City on the board with 16:15 left in the first half.

Bruno made it 2-0 at 8:55. Mikaela Rix received a penalty corner and passed to Bruno, about 15 yards to the right of the goal, and she scored diagonally into the left corner. Bruno's second goal with 9:38 remaining? Refer to previous goal description.

"Whatever works," Bruno said with a grin. She'd scored on a similar play in the Long Island final. "It seems to be working."

Garden City played its signature stifling defense for most of the contest, until Catherine Willard capitalized on the Knights' fifth straight corner with 3:58 left, and Tori Starr scored on a reverse sweep at 1:08.

"There was some confusion at the end," Tara Mahon said, "but the important thing is we're in the final."