Thursday, October 1, 2026
The old sports adage that defense wins championships was again proven true by MacArthur’s historic girls’ soccer season.
Goalkeeper Lexie Thompson stopped five shots to extend her school shutout record to 30 and Kaitlyn Tung and Hailey Metzger scored goals as the top-seeded Generals captured their first Nassau Class A championship in three years by blanking offensive powerhouse Garden City 2-0 at Cold Spring Harbor High School last Saturday afternoon.
MacArthur (13-0-2) will face either East Islip or Shoreham Wading River for the Long Island title this Saturday at 1:30 p.m. at Berner Middle School in Massapequa.
“It’s great,” said MacArthur first-year coach Steve Costello, who was also a county champion as the school’s baseball manager. “These girls are such fantastic people. I cared less about the championship and more about getting it for them. They deserve to be county champs.”
Garden City (13-3-2) outscored its opponents 14-0 during its playoff journey and buzzed around the MacArthur net multiple times early in the first half but couldn't capitalize on its chances.
Tung, though, did with just over 21 minutes remaining before the break by converting a partial breakaway with two Trojan defenders bearing down on her.
“I saw the ball come in and it was going a little over [the defender’s] head and I knew she couldn’t get a touch on it,” Tung said of her ninth goal. “I just had to stay composed. I saw the goalie coming out and right when she took that step off that line I just slipped it right past her.”
The Trojans nearly tied it with just over two minutes remaining in the first half when midfielder Catherine Hayes, the only player to solve Thompson this season, lofted a ball from the right-wing side of the 14-yard line. Thompson was knocked over during the ensuing scrum, but the MacArthur defense eventually cleared the ball out of harm’s way.
“I took a bit of a hard fall [and] landed on my side,” Thompson recalled. “It was just a little bruise, but it will heal.”
Thompson’s other big save came with about 28 minutes left, when she dove to punch away Emily Romeo’s attempt from the right wing.
“It makes the win that much better when it’s a shutout,” Thompson said. “It’s a team effort, but there’s nothing better than keeping [the shutouts] up the whole season.”
The defensive corps of Meghan Wetzel, Caitlin Barry, Ava Angiuli and Hallie Bray helped by continually clearing the ball and breaking up plays to the point where Costello thought the Trojan offense grew “exhausted” down the stretch.
“This was the best game we played all year against anyone,” he said.
Metzger sealed it with just under 17 minutes left when her arcing shot from near the left hashmark found the top-right corner of the net. The junior recognized that the team was getting close to putting the game away and she was more than happy to do the honors.
“We had to keep shooting because each person that took a shot on the field got so close,” Metzger said. “I took it and it went in.”
Playoff heroics are nothing new for Metzger, who notched the team’s only goal against Plainedge in the semifinals and also scored as an eighth grader in the 2019 final win over Mepham.
“I think I play good under pressure,” she said. “Hard work pays off and everybody contributed today.”
