McNaboe-Curth combo nets Garden City girls lacrosse a win in OT

There are many new faces on the Garden City girls lacrosse team this spring. Caitlin McNaboe and Carla Curth aren’t two of them. And in the game’s most important moments, it makes complete sense the Trojans wanted those two controlling the outcome.

After Kendal Morris won the draw to begin overtime Saturday, Curth held the ball in command of the offense from behind Suffern’s goal. And once she saw McNaboe create just enough room to fit in a pass, that’s all Curth needed.

“You’re very nervous when you have the ball in your stick at the end of the game,” McNaboe said. “I think we stayed calm and right when we were stacking up top, I saw my girl watching the ball and that’s when I slipped through and she gave me a perfect pass.”

McNaboe, who had four goals, scored the winning goal with 1:16 remaining in overtime as Garden City defeated Suffern, 10-9, at the Gains for Brains girls lacrosse showcase supporting the Making Headway Foundation at Cold Spring Harbor High School.

“It was amazing and I hugged Carla right away,” McNaboe said. “Then everyone started running at me. It was the best feeling ever.”

McNaboe and Curth have shared a field since they first picked up a lacrosse stick, recalling days of PAL in the second grade.

“Caitlin and I have had a lot of back and forth connections at the end,” said Curth, who had a goal and two assists. “I always know she’s there for the backdoor cut and it just worked out. She’s a great player, I have a lot of trust in her.”

Garden City (8-1) trailed the majority of the contest, including 9-7 before scoring the final two goals over the final six minutes of regulation. Victoria Ottomanelli scored with 5:55 remaining in the second half to cut Suffern’s lead to 9-8 and McNaboe scored off a free position with 4:54 remaining in the second half to tie the score at 9.

“Coach always says you have to run it right in, use your speed and that’s what I did,” McNaboe said. “Making that free position to tie the game was really exciting.”

Coach Dave Ettinger was happy to see Garden City never get down despite trailing on the scoreboard. After Suffern (5-2) tied the score at 3 with 17:08 remaining in the first half, the Trojans never took the lead again until the final score. Kyle Finnell added three goals in the win.

“Any time your team keeps fighting to the end, that makes you proud as a coach,” Ettinger said. “They were positive in the huddles late. Going into overtime, we said, ‘Win the draw, score a goal and celebrate.' ”

Garden City’s defense needed to hold Suffern one more time after scoring the tying goal in regulation. The Trojans held Suffern without a shot over the final three minutes.

“We sent a [double team] with 17 seconds left and that was very effective to not give them an opportunity to get a shot off,” Ettinger said. “They held it for three minutes but didn’t get a shot.”

“We had all the momentum going forward after that goal to tie it up and playing really good defense to end it,” McNaboe said. “We were all hyped and we came in the huddle and said, ‘Let’s get this.’ ”