Massapequa v. Garden City @ Garden City High School

This game was hyped up, and it lived up to all the hype. It was a great battle between the top 2 ranked teams in the LILJ for Nassau County, and both of these teams wanted to prove they were worthy of the number one spot. Two historic programs going at it, punch for punch.

Massapequa came out firing right out of the gate as Maryland bound midfielder Garrett Gibbons roll dodged his defender and lasered the ball to make it 1-0 Massapequa. The party continued for the Chiefs as Senior midfielder Steven Carameli beat his defender to make it 2-0 Massapequa. After that, the Trojans started their day. Senior and Brown bound defender Colin Hart scooped up a huge ground ball and started a fast break and found his teammate Will Puccio who was wide open for the Trojans first goal of the game. Like the first quarter, Massapequa came firing out of the gate in the second quarter as well. Thomas Greenblatt blew by his defender and rocketed it from the left side to make it 3-1. All Namer, Trevor Yeboah-Kodie had a nice goal to trim Massapequas lead down to 1 as he blew by his defender from up top for a goal. Eamon Hall would answer back with a goal from a nice feed from Colin Gleason. With Massapequa up 4-2, the Trojans started to get on a roll. James Basile had a nice step back goal and lasered it with his left hand to give Garden City their third goal of the day. Joe Scattergia came up clutch for the Trojans as he tied the game at 4. Sam Lufti would then answer back to give Massapequa a 5-4 lead off of good ball movement. The first half would end with a bang as Will Puccio would tie the game at 5. As both teams huddled in each corner of the field at halftime, both of them knew that it was their game for the taking. Garden City came full force in the second half as they would score three straight goals. Gavin Pappas would make it 6-5, Ryan Bice made it 7-5, and Gavin Pappas scored his second goal of the game to make it 8-5. Massapequa wouldn’t lay down and give up as Logan Tucker would step up with a goal to make it 8-6. Then with 26.8 seconds left on the clock, Collin Gleason would make it 8-7. The crowd was on the edge of their seat, but Garden City would come out on top with this one.

Garden City Takeaways

One star of this game for Garden City was Eric Mueller. Mueller had 12 big saves and he was phenomenal between the pipes. Mueller showed that he can go up against the best shooters in the game. Another star who shined in this game was Justin Coppola. Coppola had a big task in front of him at the faceoff X by going against one of the best FOGOs in the country, Angelo Petrakis. Coppola won the battle against Petrakis beating him 10-9. Garden City’s defense really impressed me. They communicated very well and they’re not afraid to go out and press you. Colin Hart really impressed me the most. Not only is he a great defender, but his transaction game is very good as he proved that with his fast break assist to Will Puccio. Will Puccio stepped up big time for the Trojans, as he scored two goals against a very strong Massapequa defense, and he will continue to play a huge role on Garden City’s offense. Gavin Pappas is the star on offense so far for the Trojans as he has two strong games in a row and with him Puccio, James Basile (1 Goal), Trevor Yeboah-Kodie (1 Goal), and Joe Scattergia (1 Goal), this is offense is lethal. This is a good start in what should be a typical Garden City year after two big non conference games against two powerhouses in Long Island.

Massapequa Takeaways

Massapequa may have lost, but it was an effective loss. There is no team in Massapequas conference that will be as good as Garden City, and this game will make them a better team. One player that really impressed me was Garrett Gibbons. Gibbons may not have lit up the stat sheet, but he was all over the field and came up clutch with 3 ground balls along with 1 goal. Sam Lufti showed today that he is a very tough player. Toward the final minutes of the game, Lufti went down on a brutal hit and had to go to the sidelines. That didn’t stop Lufti though as he went back in the game, so he can give his team a chance to win. No surprise here, but Kenny Brower continued to show that he’s an absolute beast. Brower scooped up 3 ground balls, and it was very fun to watch him play. There’s nothing he can’t do on defense. Two of the best defensemen in the country in the class of 2019 in Brower and Colin Hart were on the field on Saturday, and it was a treat to watch. Goalies, Nick Squicciarini and Joe Moran split time in goal for the Chiefs and I thought both of them played extremely well and kept Massapequa in the game. There’s no doubt in my mind that the Chiefs will be just fine this season and there still the favorites to win the Nassau County conference A county title.

 

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