Rix, Garden City girls hold on to reach 'B' final

CORTLAND, N.Y. - Garden City's bench stood up and the starters stepped up.

A furious Canandaigua rally had reduced a seven-goal advantage to just one with five minutes remaining in Friday's state Class B girls lacrosse semifinal at SUNY Cortland. The chances of a fifth straight state title and the continuation of the Trojan dynasty were dwindling.

But with the Trojans on the ropes, there was no last knockout punch. No heroics from either side. While the Garden City bench players, who had sat quietly on the ground throughout the game, stood up and cheered wildly, the starters ran out the clock with 31/2 minutes of keepaway to hold off Canandaigua, 16-15. The Trojans will try for a fifth straight state title against Bedford's Fox Lane at noon Saturday.

"It was a little scary," said sophomore attack Alex Bruno, who scored five goals. "But it was exciting. You have to be in these games sometimes."

"It's really nerve-racking," said junior midfielder Mikaela Rix, who had six goals and one assist. "But as long as you have faith in your teammates you can do it."

The Trojans (20-0) timed their passes perfectly in the final minutes to remain one step ahead of Canandaigua (19-2), knowing any misstep would give Canandaigua the ball and a chance to tie it.

Said Bruno: "You can't be nervous that you're not going to catch the ball, because that's when you'll miss it."

It was a far cry from the previous 15 minutes in which Canandaigua cut a 13-6 Garden City advantage to 16-15.

"I'm really proud that we were able to pull that out," Garden City coach Diane Chapman said. "You don't realize how long three-and-a-half minutes are until you have to move the ball the whole time."

Canandaigua scored six of the game's final seven goals, a run only interrupted when Caroline Tarzian scored to put the Trojans up 16-13 with 7:04 remaining. Garden City's Kelly Weis was stellar in net, but Canandaigua climbed back with timely passing and plenty of second-chance scores. Garden City led 12-6 at halftime thanks to five goals from Rix.

Garden City won last year's state semifinal, 16-4, over Watertown and hadn't played a game this close since an early April non-league trip to Maryland.

Said Rix: "Every win is sweet and it's nice to win a close one like that, but I would have definitely liked to relax a little."