No kidding: Garden City girls are champs

When the Garden City yearbook is distributed in the spring, one line printed inside might show that the school's first girls soccer state title may not have been as unexpected as everyone seems to think.

But the truth is, what senior co-captain Barbara Sullivan wrote in her senior bio was more of an inside joke between the boys and girls soccer teams than a prediction.

"We always joke like, 'States '10' or 'States '09,' whatever year it is because it never happens," Sullivan said. "In the beginning of the year when I filled out the bio, I put "States '10" under soccer, not thinking it would actually happen."

But "States '10" is exactly what happened for Garden City and it culminated with the team's bus pulling back into town with a police escort and a state championship plaque.

With the Backstreet Boys blaring from the speakers and girls dancing in the aisle, the bus returned to the school at nearly 11 p.m. the night they won the state title. The team was greeted by a standing ovation from family and friends welcoming home the first state champions in the program's history.

"We are in a school where a lot of teams win," Garden City coach Mike Heedles said. "Not that it's taken for granted, but it's kind of expected. Ours really wasn't expected and it felt like we just accomplished something that was incredible."

The first of those accomplishments came in the Nassau championship against defending state champion South Side, when Jill Yoo scored the game's only goal on a header off a throw-in by Sullivan with two seconds remaining in the half.

"I said from the beginning of the year, the thing I wanted most was the county championship," Sullivan said. "Once we won that and were playing such great soccer, we just kept going and didn't think we could be stopped."

They couldn't be stopped by Sayville in the Long Island championship. Tied at 1 after overtime, goalkeeper Christina Mangels blanked Sayville in penalty kicks as Christina Cesarini, Liz Mahoney and Amanda Murolo each scored to send Garden City to states.

"We didn't realize it at the time but we made history," Mangels said of winning the state title. "We'll look back on this 10, 20 years from now and say, 'Wow, what a team that was and what an amazing journey.' "

The journey continued upstate to Cortland, where Garden City, making its first appearance in the state tournament since 1996, got goals from Sullivan and Victoria Aldrich in a 2-0 win over Burnt Hills in the state semifinal.

As time ran down in the second overtime of the state final against Rye, the possibility of co-champions loomed until Erin Greiner scored the biggest goal in program history with 1:26 remaining, propelling Garden City to a 2-1 win and a euphoric celebration.

"It's probably the most exciting thing that's ever happened to me," Greiner said. "We never expected it to happen and it really couldn't get any better."

What could be better than helping turn "States '10" from an unrealistic inside joke in a yearbook to an unexpected reality in Garden City . . . 'States '11'?