Thursday, October 1, 2026
Defending Nassau Class B boys’ lacrosse champion Garden City pulled away from Long Beach in the second half of Tuesday night’s quarterfinal playoff game at Hofstra, winning 12-4 behind nine different goal-scorers.
Matt Montgomery had two goals and two assists to lead the second-seeded Trojans, who advanced to meet No. 3 Division in the semifinals. The seventh-seeded Marines (8-9) got a pair of goals from senior Zach Verch and one apiece from seniors Mike Nakashian and Alex Solomon.
“We let it get away from us late in the second quarter,” Long Beach coach Jim Kaspar said. “We got within 3-2 after giving up the first three goals, but we had trouble hanging onto the ball and the turnovers hurt us.”
The Marines had 13 first-half giveaways and 20 on the night. They got 14 saves from All-County senior goalie Eddie Collins, who worked behind a young defense that Kaspar said he believes will set the tone in 2011. Juniors Ben Weiss and Damon Whitfield and sophomores Kris Horvath, Alec Salvadori and Joe Brand logged the majority of action on the back line.
“We had a young defense and young midfield, and we made a lot of progress throughout the year,” Kaspar said. “They responded to what us coaches tried to teach them and they worked hard. We still have a lot of work to do during the offseason, but we took a positive step.”
Long Beach trailed 3-0 and didn’t get a shot past Garden City goalie Alex Castronovo until 4:17 into the second quarter when Verch scored unassisted. Nakashian converted a pass from sophomore Joe Radin for a man-up goal less than a minute later to shave the margin to one, but Brian Coleman and Patric Berkery answered and the Trojans led 5-2 at intermission.
Two quick strikes to open the second half extended the Marines’ deficit to five. Devin Dwyer scored five seconds into the third quarter, and Tom Gordon tallied at 1:31 as Garden City stepped on the gas.
“We accomplished most of our goals this year,” Kaspar said. “We didn’t get the 10 wins we were looking for, but we hosted a playoff game and won it and got to Hofstra.”
Long Beach knocked off Bethpage in the first round of the playoffs, 7-3, on May 19 at the Recreation Center. Solomon (three goals, two assists), Radin (two goals), sophomore Jake Shapiro (two goals) and Collins (13 saves) starred.
