West Islip girls soccer defeats Garden City in penalty kicks to capture LI Class AA championship
Jenna Obloj #8 of West Islip and Chloe Benik #21 of Garden City compete for the ball during the Long Island Class AA girls soccer final on Tuesday, November 5, 2024 Credit: David Meisenholder
More than 100 minutes of girls soccer action wasn’t enough to declare a champion. After 110 minutes, Garden City and West Islip engaged in one of the most nerve-wracking events in sports – penalty kicks.
Neither team scored over 80 minutes of regulation or 30 minutes of overtime. But a winner needed to be declared to see who would advance and represent Long Island further into the girls soccer state tournament.
West Islip defeated Garden City, 6-5, in penalty kicks in the girls soccer Long Island Class AA championship in a Southeast Regional semifinal at Hofstra on Tuesday night.
Samantha McCormack scored the winning penalty-kick goal as the seventh shooter for West Islip. Julianne Arcoleo, Meghan Farrell, Leah Tomeo, Jenna Obloj and Ava Obloj also had penalty-kick goals.
West Islip (18-1-1) advances to play Albertus Magnus at 1 p.m. on Saturday at Nyack High School in the Southeast Regional Final with the winner advancing to the state semifinals at SUNY Cortland. The Lions won their first Long Island title since 2009.
Kathryn Monaco, Chloe Benik, Briana Ciccone, Madeleine Patrickakos and Sophia Ryan scored in penalty kicks for Garden City, which finished 15-2-4 after winning its first county title since 2016.
Rhein made the biggest save of the contest for Garden City and it won’t show up in a box score. She was the last line of defense, even behind the goalkeeper, following a bouncing ball that was crossed into the 18-yard box and hit off multiple players. Rhein blocked the shot with her body and cleared the ball out of trouble with 15 minutes left in the second half.
Marisa Patrissi made eight saves, including four in overtime for Garden City and three in the final seven minutes of the second overtime period.
Makenna Gagliardi made six saves for West Islip, including a key save at the net in the final minutes of the second half. She also saved two free kicks in overtime, including one as time expired in the second overtime period.
