The girls in their first lacrosse game played tremendous, exceeding coaches and parent's expectations. The girl's fundamentals of passing, catching, ground balls, and defense were clearly better than their opponents in a 9-2 victory. It was exciting to watch the things we practice during the week sink in as the girl's field sense and knowledge of the rules allowed them to confidently play offense and defense. The ball tends to be on the ground a fair amount at the third grade level and those teams who hustle, pick up ground balls, play aggressive, and are in good shape usually come out on top. The girls did all four tasks extremely well. Goalie Kelly George played the whole game and had 2 super saves. Kelly's outlet passes were also very accurate. The defense of Alexis Pagonis, Caroline Munn, Catherine Maher, Colleen Adams, and Caroline Cudahy played great, their one on one defense and numerous successful double teams led to many turnovers. The midfield play allowed Garden City to dominate ball possession through out the game. The hustle and stamina of Catherine Galzerano, Emily Clarke, Celia Concannon, Marley Rich, Kippy Donovan, and Amanda Stober, and Clare Gallic was outstanding. The homes (attack) of Kathleen Griffith, Keeley Scott, Mauread Plaff, Maggie Minett and Dominique Dragotto passed and caught the ball very well. The unselfish play of the team led to eight of the nine goals being assisted. After the first six minutes of play Garden City led 4-0 and the "good sportsmanship rule" came into play. The rules mandate the offense complete three passes (no drops or bounce passes) before going to goal. The coaches were extremely proud of the girls who scored five more goals while catching and throwing with great precision and accuracy. The goals and assists were recorded by the following players Catherine Galzerano ( 3 goals, 2 assists), Kathleen Griffith (2 goals, 2 assists), Celia Concannon (1 goal, 2 assists), Emily Clarke (1 goal, 2 assists), Keeley Scott (2 goals), Claire Gallic (1 goal), Marlee Rich (1 assist). Critical to winning is ground ball pick ups and here Emily, Catherine and Celia led the way. The most important stat was fun was had by all.