No. 4 Ranked Garden City Trojans Team Preview

Now inside of the top 5 of the LILJ top 25 preseason rankings and at number 4 it’s the Garden City Trojans of Nassau Class B. As one of the storied programs on the island with a rich history of winning, this is a program that has at minimum reached the Long Island Championship the last four years. Last season they were defeated in the LIC against West Islip, and this year they will be aiming to get back to that point and clinch the victory this time around and head up to Cortland for a chance to contend for the state championship. They are coached by Dave Ettinger who is now in his fifth year at the helm, and during the winter Garden City was a participant in the LILJ High School Winter League gearing up for a season that they hope will see them bring home some hardware at seasons end.

The offense which sees the return of the majority of their core from last year was sixth in Nassau County in goals per game at 11.5. In the senior class they return their All-American Northwestern bound attacker Kyle Finnell coming off of a 53 goal, 19 assist season for 72 points. Adding to their attack is junior Ashely Clark (Harvard) who added 17 goals and 6 assists as a sophomore and came up big in clutch moments on multiple occasions, and Averie Smith (Yale) who tallied 31 points with 20 goals and 11 assists. Senior Arci Haffner (Holy Cross), junior Michaela Molgano (UPenn) and sophomore Grace Brantuk add to their talent and depth at attack. This year their attack will be without 2024 graduate Maureen Arendt the current freshman at Florida who was second on the team in points last year. Their returning midfielders include seniors Tori Ottomanelli (Harvard), Kathryn Monaco (Villanova), and juniors Regan Backer (UVA), Deanna Prisco (Northwestern) and Leelee Gaffney (American). Defensively they will be without 2024 graduates Mabel Overbeck the current Duke Freshman and Emily Romeo the freshman at Binghamton, but return Ellie Andersen (Cornell) Meaghan Lynch (Cal), Brooke Hopkins (Notre Dame) and Brynn Reilly all in the senior class, and in goal will be Kate Connolly replacing 2024 graduate Niamh Pfaff the current Yale freshman. In the winter league Connolly was a standout with 54 saves and a save percentage just under 50%. The season opener for Garden City is a non-league matchup against Bayport on March 27th, followed by their first league game in the power conference against Long Beach in a rematch of the county finals.