Garden City girls lacrosse reverses slow start with six-goal rally to fuel win over Wantagh

It took less than 12 seconds for Garden City to completely flip the direction of the contest.

The Garden City girls lacrosse team allowed five of the game’s first six goals and appeared destined to end the first quarter with a sizable disadvantage. But the Trojans showcased how dynamic and fast they can be with Kimberly Colucci scoring with 11.7 seconds left before Kathryn Monaco won the ensuing draw control, sprinted down the field, ran behind the cage and wrapped around for a goal at the buzzer of the opening period to cut a four-goal deficit to a two-goal disadvantage.

Those two scores started a run of six straight goals for the Trojans to fuel host Garden City to a 10-6 victory over Wantagh in Nassau Conference I girls lacrosse on Tuesday.

“I knew we couldn’t get down on ourselves,” Monaco said. “We had to keep picking ourselves up and stay positive and know that we’re a good team and can come back. Kim scored the second goal and then we scored again before the quarter and there’s a big difference between 5-2 and 5-3. We got the momentum going our way.”

Colucci led Garden City with three goals and an assist with all four points coming during the Trojans’ 6-0 run. She scored the final two goals of the run to give Garden City a 7-5 lead entering halftime.

“My teammates were just giving me the opportunities to get out there and go,” Colucci said. “We knew their defense and their personnel, so I think it worked out well.”

Wantagh (5-5, 4-3) went on a 5-0 scoring run over 7:17 in the first quarter after Tori Ottomanelli scored the opening goal for Garden City.

“They came out and punched us in the face and credit to them,” coach Dave Ettinger said. “They are a good team with a lot of good players and they really took it to us early there and I’m just happy with how our girls adjusted and found a way.”

Garden City (8-2, 6-0) allowed just one goal in the final three quarters.

“We were able to pick each other up and no one really started getting down on anyone, Monaco said. “We all knew we had to change something and that’s what we did.”

The Trojans had eight different goal scorers, including Averie Smith, who had a goal and three assists. Riley Forthofer had two goals and three assists to lead Wantagh and Juliana Cerasi and Sabrina Asadurian added two goals each.

Tuesday was a battle of defending county champions with Garden City winning Nassau Class B and Wantagh taking Class C last year. Even with the early deficit, Monaco remained confident in a champion vs. champion battle.

“I knew we could come back,” Monaco said. “I’m just happy we did.”