Garden City Boys Soccer Advances to Finals

The boys Class A semi-final match between Garden City and Island Trees was a tight battle that was dominated by a ball control Trojan effort that finally broke through with two goals in a five minute span in the second half. The first half ended with no scoring but the fans saw a match that was lopsided towards the Garden City boys as they held an advantage in corner kicks (6-1) and time of possession (approx 70-30%). Continuing to build their attack from the back and move the ball through open space, the GC boys had several good scoring chances that were thwarted by an aggressive Island Trees keeper, Nick Drew. With Andrew Schneider and Nick Prime continually making runs at the goal it was a matter of time for GC to break through.

The second half opened with Island Trees attacking aggressively and putting pressure on GC's defense but couldn't break through to get a clean shot at Garden City keeper Joe Griffin, especially with active defenders Ethan Senatore, Joe McNiff, Will Castoro, Tommy Anesler and Bobby Seel seemingly taking turns shutting down any Island Trees attack to preserve the shutout. Once the GC boys warmed up in the half they started to mount their own pressure on Island Trees and took over the match. With several flurries of action in the box it was easy t0 see that it was only a matter of time that they would break through.

The breakthrough came as GC continued their advantage in corner kicks and Owen Heaney dropped a perfect ball into the box that Joe Bernieri ran on to and headed the ball past keeper Drew. And Garden City was up 1-0 and they were not going to look back.

Continuing the pressure, GC gained another corner kick that the same tandem of Heaney to Bernieri connected on to put GC up 2-0 and basically sealed the game. The second Bernieri goal was purely a matter of effort as Bernieri outworked three defenders and the keeper at the goal line to head the ball into the goal for the insurance goal.

The large Garden City crowd erupted for the second time in about five minutes as they could sense the match was theirs and they were moving on.

The next match will be on Wednesday at Mitchell field. The game will feature the top two seeds, Garden City and Jericho facing off for the Class A championship. Coaches Paul Cutter and Reid Sclafani have the boys well trained and positioned to reach their goal of a championship.