Caitlin McNaboe scores with 1.7 seconds left to give Garden City girls lacrosse Nassau Class B title
Caitlin McNaboe of Garden City passes to her teammate during the Nassau Class B girls final against Long Beach on Tuesday, May 31, 2022 at Adelphi University. Credit: Dawn McCormick
Carla Curth sprinted toward the net, saw Caitlin McNaboe in prime scoring position and the flashbacks immediately began for the Garden City girls lacrosse team.
In an April 23 tournament match against Suffern, the same duo connected for the winning goal to give Garden City a thrilling overtime victory. On Tuesday at Adelphi's Motamed Field, the tandem took things a step further, producing a dream ending for the Trojans.
Following Delaney Chernoff’s goal for Long Beach with 13.2 seconds remaining to tie the score at 8, Tori Ottomanelli won the ensuing faceoff for Garden City. Once McNaboe received Curth’s pass in front of the net, she promptly fired in her second goal for the winner with 1.7 seconds left as No. 1 Garden City earned a heart-pounding 9-8 victory over No. 2 Long Beach in the Nassau Class B final.
“We’ve been hitting on some of those in practice” Garden City coach Dave Ettinger said. “The girls picked a perfect time to execute it to perfection.”
Garden City (13-3) will face Westhampton in the Long Island Class B championship at 2 p.m. on Sunday at Stony Brook University.
“I just screamed for Carla to pass it,” McNaboe said, as Garden City, the defending Long Island Class B champion, won its second consecutive county title. “She fed me a beautiful pass and I one-timed it in the net. It was such an amazing feeling. I looked at the clock and was like, ‘Oh my gosh. We did it. This is what we’ve been waiting for.’ ”
The moment was one even McNaboe couldn’t previously envision.
“I never imagined that it would end like this,” McNaboe said. “But it’s every player’s dream.”
“There was no doubt,” Curth said. “The last time we had that situation in overtime against Suffern the same thing happened. I just knew that Caitlin was there, and it was great.”
Keira Bauer netted two of three consecutive Long Beach goals to give the Marines a 7-6 advantage with 13:41 to go. Garden City responded with goals by Mabel Overbeck and Marie Cacciabaudo to retake the lead with 9:06 left.
Amanda Grimes, who made five saves for Garden City, had two with just under a minute remaining before Delaney Radin found Chernoff for the tying goal.
Long Beach (10-9) led 4-1 with 5:23 to go in the first half, but three Garden City goals in the final 3:09 knotted the score entering halftime. McNaboe began the spurt, followed by Kyle Finnell 28 seconds later. Ottomanelli then capped off the run at the 1:50 mark.
“We talked about this a lot coming into the season,” said Cacciabaudo, who scored three goals. “Winning this game means so much to us and we’re county champs again — it’s amazing.”
In the Nassau Class C final, No. 2 Manhasset defeated No. 1 Wantagh, 19-11, to win its fourth consecutive county championship. Alexis Morton led the way with five goals and five assists. Shea Panzik added four goals.
Manhasset will face Bayport-Blue Point in the Long Island Class C championship at 4 p.m. on Sunday at SBU.
