Garden City girls soccer's Chloe Benik, recovered from last season's elbow injury, scores twice in win over Massapequa

Chloe Benik hates thinking about it because there was nothing she could do about it.

Benik, a Newsday All-Long Island selection last season, dislocated her elbow in the opening playoff game for the Garden City girls soccer team. The Trojans still reached the county final, but fell short of winning the title.

That feeling of sitting on the sideline, unable to contribute on the field continues to haunt Benik.

“It was rough,” she said. “We played well the whole season and we had so much momentum going into the playoffs. We looked really good and then a big injury like that, it was tough. And it was tough to watch from afar.”

Benik turned that pain into motivation throughout the offseason and the work she put in paid off on Monday. The senior scored both goals in host Garden City's 2-0 win over Massapequa in Nassau Conference AAA/AA-I.

“This year means a lot to me, because sitting there on the sidelines watching how terribly the game ended last year hurt me even more than my injury,” Benik said. “So this year is really important for me. It’s my last year and we’re looking to win it all.”

Benik even had motivation from a much more recent misfortune. She had a chance to tie the score on a free kick with 10 seconds left in Garden City’s 1-0 loss to Oceanside on Friday, but was unable to score. When Benik lined up for another free kick on Monday, she was determined to deliver a different outcome.

Benik sent a 31-yard shot into the top-left corner of the goal to give Garden City a 1-0 lead with 9:11 left in the first half.

“I’ve had a few of those and I haven’t been able to score,” Benik said. “I’ve been practicing them and it’s been great to see the practice finally paid off. I picked my spot, hit it and finished it.”

Benik struck again with 30:54 left in the match. She received a pass from Briana Ciccone, took a touch, before turning and slotting the ball into the bottom-right corner of the net.

“She’s the kind of kid who can single-handedly turn a game around,” Garden City coach Scott McAuley said. “She has that ability, so having her, it’s like having this secret weapon — although it’s not so secret anymore, obviously.”

Garden City improved to 7-1-1, including 5-1 in the conference. Massapequa, which has won 18 county titles in the last 21 years but starts more underclassmen than upperclassmen this year, fell to 3-4-1 overall and 1-3-1 in the conference. The contest was made final with 7:07 left in the second half due to darkness.

Garden City has high goals and expectations this year as it seeks the program's first county title since 2016. Benik will be key to making that happen.

“Not being able to play last year and just watching from the sidelines was really hard,” Benik said. “I felt helpless. I just wanted to be out there with my team and to help everyone so this year, hopefully, we stay healthy and I’m excited to try to win it all.”

“I’ve been coaching for 25 years here and I’ve seen state championship teams and I’ve seen teams that finished last in the conference,” McAuley said. “And this is definitely one of the better groups I’ve seen here.”