Thursday, October 1, 2026
South Side had to work overtime and beyond to capture its third county title in the past five seasons.
For a second straight game, the second-seeded Cyclones needed some penalty kick magic to emerge as Nassau Class AA girls’ soccer champions. After battling top-seeded Garden City to a 1-1 draw through 80 minutes of regulation and 30 minutes of overtime in Sunday afternoon’s final at Farmingdale State College, they outscored the Trojans 4-3 in PKs.
Senior Molly Barry, South Side’s sixth shooter, delivered the golden PK goal and immediately jumped into the waiting arms of senior goalkeeper Abby Gruner, who not only made two dynamic PK saves but also scored. A mob of teammates followed in a wild celebration following its second post-OT win in four days.
“This is really what it’s all about, watching these girls celebrate with each other,” said Judi Croutier, in her second stint as South Side’s coach. “They’re like a family and they’ve worked so hard for this.”
The first round of penalty kicks ended with each team converting 3 of 5. Brooke Doreste, Madalena Suarez and Gruner scored for the Cyclones. Then Croutier had to make a second list of five shooters, starting with Barry. “It was a gut feeling,” she said. “We have a solid list of 10 shooters and then more if we need them. Against MacArthur in the semifinals our order was different.”
The stage was set for Barry after Garden City’s sixth shooter fired wide left.
“It was an honor to be put in that situation,” Barry said. “You can’t really think about what’s at stake when you step up to the ball. I kinda knew where I wanted to put it and I’m so excited we won.”
The Cyclones (11-5-1) advance to face West Islip or Harborfields in the Long Island Class AA title game next Saturday at 12:30 p.m. at Walt Whitman High School.
“Amazing,” said Gruner, who made a season-saving stop with three minutes remaining in the first overtime robbing Briana Ciccone on the doorstep. “I think going to penalty kicks the other night really helped us today,” she added.
Senior Julie Faranda scored in the 7th minute to give South Side an early 1-0 lead, banging home a rebound after Doreste’s direct kick rang off the crossbar. It stayed that way until the Trojans got the equalizer off the foot of Anna Olcott with 4:08 remaining in regulation.
“Just like I said the other night, you never really want a game to be decided in a shootout but that’s part of the game and we practice them all season long,” Croutier said.
Garden City had defeated the Cyclones in the most-recent meeting between the Conference I rivals, 2-1, Oct. 9, after the teams battled to a 1-1 draw Sept. 15. Doreste had the South Side goal in each game.
Doreste, Maddie Woo, Natalie Cammalleri and Katori Martin all converted penalty kicks in the semifinals against MacArthur while Gruber made two key stops. Martin scored the Cyclones’ lone goal in regulation early in the first half before the Generals got the equalizer in the second half.
South Side opened the postseason Oct. 24 with a 4-1 home victory over No. 10 Kennedy. Martin and Bobbie Creo each had a goal and an assist, Faranda and Sofia Anisansel also found the back of the net. Cammalleri had two assists.
