Garden City boys soccer wins its first Long Island title in 7 years after first-half goal from Myles Watson

It had been three years since Garden City had taken home a Nassau championship plaque. The Trojans grabbed hold of that in Class AA last Thursday on Farmingdale State’s turf.

It had been seven years since Garden City had taken home a Long Island championship plaque. The undefeated Trojans grabbed hold of that as well Tuesday night on Farmingdale State’s turf with a 1-0 win over Suffolk champ Comsewogue on a first-half goal by Myles Watson.

“I’m ecstatic, over the moon,” Garden City coach Paul Cutter said. “This group of kids has put in the work. They certainly deserve it. It’s just a credit to how hard they worked, how much they wanted it, how coachable they are. Just a fantastic group of human beings as well as soccer players.”

The program has never grabbed hold of a state championship plaque. But this Garden City edition is a perfect 20-0 and stands three steps — albeit slippery steps — away from the top prize.

The Trojans are going to Westchester next. This was also a Southeast Regional semifinal, so they advanced to the regional final at 1 p.m. Saturday at Byram Hills High in Armonk against Section I champ Tappan Zee.

Win there and they will have a pass into the AA state final four in Middletown Nov. 16. Win that and they get to fight for the title the next day.

First things first.

“The next one, a very tough opponent, Tappan Zee,” Cutter said. “It will be a tough game, but we’re up for the challenge.”

New Comsewogue coach Mike Bonura — who was also the old coach, having been in charge from 1997 to 2001 — had stated a goal in the preseason of just making the playoffs with an inexperienced team. These players won their last regular-season game and made it at 7-7.

They entered the Suffolk AA tournament as the ninth seed. But they won four straight — including a quarterfinal win via penalty kicks over No. 1 Smithtown West and the final vs. No. 11 West Islip — to claim the program’s first county crown since the Class A days of 2009.

“It’s been amazing,” Bonura said. “They’re an amazing group of kids. My heart breaks for them because I know they wanted this more than anything. But I’m so proud of them.”

The first half of this game was played mostly with Garden City on the attack.

The Trojans broke through when Justin Woodbine sent a through ball to Watson, who had seen a gap.

Senior goalkeeper Ryan Worhle began to come out, but Watson deposited the ball in the net with 28:28 left until the break.

“I made eye contact with Woodbine,” the senior striker said. “He knew exactly where to put it. And the rest is history.”

Worhle kept Comsewogue (11-8) in play, making 10 saves. Seven of them were difficult.

“My goalie was fantastic,” Bonura said. “ . . . He’s been great for us all year.”

But Garden City stood strong defensively, from goalie Ian Pupke on out.

On to the next step.