Emily Racich's goal gives Garden City Long Island Class B championship

Emily Racich didn’t think her shot was going to go in. She just wanted to get the ball closer to the net to set up a teammate.

Yet, the ninth grader’s shot found a hole in the bottom left of the net with 3:12 remaining in the fourth quarter to lead Garden City to its third straight Long Island championship.

“I did not expect it to actually go in,” Racich said. “I was just trying to put it in [front] for someone else to tap it in. But I was really excited when we scored because then we won the game.”

Racich’s late goal led Garden City (13-3) to a 1-0 win over Eastport-South Manor (15-4) in the Long Island Class B field hockey championship at Northport High School on Sunday.

Seconds before the score, Garden City sophomore Katherine O’Hanlon fired a shot from the left side, only for it to be saved by Eastport-South Manor’s goalie Madison Heaney. But the ball landed on Racich’s stick, so she gave it a second whirl and scored.

The freshman broke a 0-0 tie that lasted nearly 57 minutes.

“Emily earned herself a spot during tryouts,” coach Lauren Lavelle said. “We only took three freshmen — she was one of the three. She has consistently shown that she’s extremely coachable. You tell her something, she does it right away. She earned that spot on the field.”

Lavelle said the Trojans typically move the ball stick to stick rather than playing long balls up field. However, they switched to the latter to more easily advance the ball.

“Once we realized we could send that big ball on the side, away from their most dangerous player — Amanda Sweeney is a phenomenal athlete in the middle there,” Lavelle said. “When we used the width, it was a little bit easier for us to get down the field.”

On the other end of the field, Ellie Rosato stood in the net. Before playoffs, the junior was a backup goalie to Madeline Mitchell but injuries made her the starter.

She made two saves in the biggest game of her career thus far.

“It definitely is so much pressure, but I knew I had to step up for my team because I knew I was the only goalie,” Rosato said. “I was their last option. Someone has to be in that goal. We can’t just throw a field player in. I kind of saw it as a sign like this is my time to shine and so far, it’s been going pretty well.”

Garden City will play Iroquois High School at 2 p.m. on Saturday in the state semifinals at Centereach High School.