Guterding Powers Garden City Lacrosse

Garden City boys lacrosse is back in the Nassau Class B title game. Again.

Fuelled by senior attack Justin Guterding’s play around the cage and James Sullivan dominating the X, the top-seeded Trojans ran away from No. 3 Long Beach, 12-3, in a Nassau Class B semifinal Tuesday at Hofstra’s Shuart Stadium.  

The Trojans (15-3), the defending state champion, have won the last seven Nassau titles.  

“We don’t take this for granted,” said Guterding, who will play in his fourth straight county final. The Duke commit finished with four goals and three assists.  

“Super day,” Garden City Coach Steve Finnell said. “[Guterding] stepped up his play distributing the ball, shooting the ball well and becoming a great leader on the offensive end.”  

Long Beach (15-3) hung with Garden City into the second period. Marines junior Josh Ayzenberg’s goal with 2:11 left in the opening quarter knotted the teams at 2.  

“We had a tough first quarter. We turn the ball over,” Finnell said. “But we settled down and had a 4-0 second quarter.”  

Related: Game Photos

In fact, Garden City strung together six straight goals to take a commanding 8-2 edge. Credit Sullivan, a talented sophomore who helped the Trojans win 18 of 20 faceoffs.  

The Trojans converted possessions into goals. Cody George had three goals and Kieran Byrnes added two.  

“Our offense is better than people think it is,” Finnell said. “We struggled early on, but we’ve gotten better as the year went on. Hopefully, we’re playing our best right now.”  

Nassau Boys Lacrosse Playoffs
Class B Semifinal – At Hofstra
Teams………..………1…..2…..3…..4 – F
Long Beach…...……2…..0…..1…..0 – 3
Garden City….….....2…..4…..4…..2 – 12
Goals – LB: Parler, Ayzenberg, Forkin; GC: Guterding 4, George 3, Byrnes 2, Badgett, Clay, Metzler.  Saves – LB: Weiss 11; GC: Dolan 5.