Sullivan kicks Garden City into 'A' soccer final
Garden City's Barbara Sullivan celebrates her goal during their game against Burnt Hills during the NYS Girls Soccer tournament in Cortland N.Y. (Nov. 19, 2010) Credit: Pat Orr
CORTLAND, N.Y. - Barbara Sullivan returned to the bench and told her euphoric teammates how, "It was such a bad shot." Yet all that "bad shot" did was send Garden City to a state girls soccer championship.
"I've had a lot of cases in the past where I've hit the goalie over and over again," Sullivan said. "And it was like this close from hitting the goalie, but it went in."
Christina Cesarini sent a pass downfield to Sullivan, who got behind a defender for a breakaway down the middle. With nothing between Sullivan and keeper Florie Comley but air, and nothing between Comley and the netting behind her but a trip to the state finals, Sullivan sneaked one just past Comley for the go-ahead goal with 24:36 remaining to propel Garden City to a 2-0 win over Burnt Hills in a Class A semifinal Friday at Homer High School.
"It's unbelievable because Garden City soccer never does this," Sullivan said. "It's our first time in the championship game since 1996. We didn't think we'd make it this far, so we are just going to try our best."
Cesarini later sent a free kick from 45 yards out to the front of the net that Victoria Aldrich knocked in with a little more than 12 minutes remaining to seal the win.
"This year, we weren't supposed to be good," Aldrich said. "We lost so many seniors last year and no one expected this but we really play as a team. It's just unreal."
The Garden City defense, which has allowed only one goal in six postseason games - and that one an own goal - kept the ball out of their zone for most of the second half and didn't allow any serious threats. Christina Mangels made two second-half saves, six total, to preserve the shutout.
"I thought we outplayed them the whole match," Garden City coach Mike Heedles said. "I'm very pleased with our performance and looking forward to tomorrow's match . . . This is new territory for us and we're loving every minute of it."
After dethroning South Side to win the county championship and outlasting Sayville in penalty kicks to win the Long Island championship, Garden City (17-2-2) will now play the winner of Rye and Pittsford Mendon at 3 p.m. Saturday at Cortland University for the "A'' title.
"We knew we wanted another night here and a chance to play for a state championship," Sullivan said. "We know we can do it, so we are ready."
