Garden City Sparks The Garden City Sparks GU-11 finished third in last weeks Ref-fuel tournament. The Sparks playing in the tournament's Premier Division played several of Long Island's top GU-11 teams. The opening day of the tournament had the Sparks play East Meadow and Dix Hills, the pre-tournament favorites. Although the Sparks had a fair amount of play and went into the half tied 1-1 with East Meadow, the Sparks were defeated. Dix Hills in the second game truly showed their class as one of Long Island's best and pressured the Sparks all game. The team left the field on Saturday with two defeats but knew that their best was yet to come. On Sunday, Coach Malhame had the girls flying. Against Oceanside, the Sparks battled back from 1-0 to earn a tie. The team had several chances and with a little luck may have come away with a victory. Next up, a fast and skillful Eastchester team. Although Eastchester had several chances in the first half, the Sparks keeper was up to the task and the half ended 0-0. Garden City dominated the second half scoring 3 times and hitting the post twice. The final score 3-1 to Garden City ended the second day and put the Sparks in a position to earn some hardware. The final game of the tournament would be against Middle Country. Like Garden City, Middle Country won their Division in the Spring and was moving up to Division 1 for the upcoming season. Both teams battled hard but Garden City cruised to a 2-0 victory. The pre-season tournament schedule is now over. The Sparks earned second place in the East-End tournament and third place at Ref-fuel. The third place finish was especially rewarding given the level of competition. The Garden City Sparks (GU-11) begin their Division 1 season on September 9th.