WESTCHESTER — It’s not that Garden City was displeased with its first half on Sunday night. It just knew that it could be even better.
Minutes later, the Trojans demonstrated exactly how dominant they can be with a trip to the state semifinals on the line.
Garden City defeated Yorktown, 18-5, in the state Class B girls lacrosse Southeast Regional Final at Lakeland High School. The Trojans, who led 7-3 at halftime, outscored Yorktown 11-2 in the second half.
“In the beginning, it was close, and I really do think it was just a matter of cleaning up the small little things,” Averie Smith said. “And when we play a clean game, we will always win. And we know that.”
It’s hard to argue that after witnessing Garden City’s final 24 minutes on Saturday. The Trojans hope they can carry that closing performance into the state Class B semifinals against Minisink Valley (16-2) on Friday at 2 p.m. at SUNY Cortland. Yorktown finished its season at 12-8.
“I think we were playing pretty well [in the first half], we were close,” coach Dave Ettinger said. “But then I think it clicked. And when it clicks, we have the ability to really play well.”
Garden City had 10 different goal scorers and 12 players recorded at least one point. Arcangela Haffner had three goals and two assists, Kimberly Colucci had three goals and an assist and Smith scored three goals.
“We have so many talented players on our team and going into a game like this, we want to be able to play our best,” Haffner said. “And if we can get the rest of the players who aren’t always in the game in, we are going to try and do that because everyone on this team is so special and so talented.”
Kathryn Monaco had two goals and an assist, Ashley Clark scored two goals and Deanna Prisco added a goal and two assists.
“I think we do have depth and the girls do an excellent job of sharing the ball,” Ettinger said. “Nobody cares who gets stats as long as we win the important stat and score more goals than them.”
Garden City, which advanced to its second state Class B semifinal in three years, is seeking its first state title since 2017.
“It’s been [two years] since we got to go back up there, and I know everyone has been so dedicated this whole season and offseason to winning the last game of the season,” Smith said. “This is so important to us and everyone knows that.”
“We have a lot of film to watch, a lot of late practices, scout practices, but I think we can do it,” Haffner said. “I have so much faith in our team, every single girl on this team wants to win states and I hope we can do it with such a special group of girls.”
Owen O’Brien covers high school and college sports for Newsday. He’s also covered professional teams such as the Mets, Yankees, Jets and Giants since graduating from the University at Buffalo.