Ben Smith's four goals lead Garden City boys lacrosse back into state semis

YORKTOWN HEIGHTS — Garden City missed out on the final four fun last year, bowing out in the Nassau semis after winning back-to-back state titles. But the Trojans made sure that they weren’t going to miss out this time.

They defeated Section I champ Horace Greeley, 14-7, in the Class B Southeast Regional final Saturday at Yorktown High to earn their ticket to the state semis.

“We’re excited to be there,” coach Steve Finnell said. “We made it in ’22 and ’23. Some of these [20] seniors were with us for those four years, and they’re excited to go back.

“They’ve had a lot of success in football, soccer and lacrosse. So it’s been good for them to have that experience.”

Senior Luke Cascadden went 19-for-25 at the faceoff X. Freshman attackman Ben Smith had four goals and two assists. And junior attackman James DeBusschere had two goals and four assists.

“I think we left some out there,” Smith said. “The defense did a good job today and kept them to seven.”

So Garden City will be playing at Middletown High at 7 p.m. Wednesday against Warwick of Section IX.

But there was a big loss within the win. Junior midfielder Charlie Koester had to leave with 10:13 left in the second quarter because of what appeared to be a serious lower left arm injury.

“One of the best players on the Island,” Finnell said. “Super player and kid. It hurts the team. He’s devastated, too. I’m devastated for him.”

Finnell ran down to the medical tent and gave Koester a comforting hug during a timeout later in the quarter.

“It’s going to be hard to do it without him,” DeBusschere said. “We’ll keep pushing through it. We’re a gritty team, and this is what we do.”

Freshman attackman Luke Dessi gave the Quakers a 1-0 lead 1:37 in, his first of six.

But the game quickly turned. Anthony Asaro passed to Smith for a goal 37 seconds later. Then Asaro raced into the middle and scored 47 seconds after that, his first of two, giving the Trojans the lead for good.

Asaro made a run into the middle and fed the ball down low to Smith to make it 3-1. After Jake Gashi scored for Greeley, Koester doubled the lead.

Dessi followed with a spectacular goal, going behind his back. But Michael Berkery scored his first of two, and it was 5-3 Trojans after one quarter.

Then the DeBusschere-Smith connection began to come into play. DeBusschere fed Smith for the first goal of the second quarter.

By halftime, it was 8-4.

Dessi scored the first goal of the third, but the three-goal margin was as close as it got.

“They’re a great team,” Dessi said. “They’re well-coached. They’ve got a lot of really good players. At the end of the day, the pressure was on them. It wasn’t quite on us. We achieved our goal. We won the section.”

Dan Medjid scored his second of two and Asaro converted a shot on the run to make it a 10-5 game. Dessi sliced it to four before the third was done.

Then Smith fed DeBusschere for a goal from the left perimeter. Then DeBusschere fed Smith for a goal from in close on the right side. And then Smith fed DeBusschere, who made it 13-6 with 2:41 left.

“I think in practice, we’re always dialed in,” DeBusschere said. “Me and him, we’re always having a catch together. We’re always shooting together. We built up a lot of chemistry over this year, and I think it shows. It showed today.”