Tori Ottomanelli spurs Garden City girls lacrosse

Photo By: Ed Rotondo

Article By: Owen O’Brien (Newsday)

The best birthday present Tori Ottomanelli could have received was not returning something she already had.

Last year, Ottomanelli was an integral piece to Garden City winning the girls lacrosse Woodstick Classic by scoring the winning goal in overtime. This year, with the Woodstick Classic falling on her 18th birthday, Ottomanelli was determined to keep the Woodstick Classic trophy in Garden City through her senior season.

Ottomanelli had four goals to lead host Garden City to a 12-5 victory over Manhasset in the Woodstick Classic, a Nassau Conference I girls lacrosse matchup, on Saturday afternoon. After the contest, her teammates hoisted Ottomanelli on their shoulders following a rendition of “Happy Birthday” for one of their senior captains.

“It definitely makes it a little bit more special,” Ottomanelli said. “Plus it being a nice day when there was rain in the forecast, it’s a really sweet feeling. Turning 18 and winning the Woodstick in a game we are looking forward to all season, it’s truly a special feeling.”

This was the 10th year the Garden City and Manhasset girls lacrosse teams went head-to-head for the Woodstick Classic. On the boys side, Garden City vs. Manhasset is considered the longest-running public school lacrosse rivalry in the nation. The Garden City girls have won three straight Woodstick Classics, evening the series to 5-5 in Woodstick Classic contests.

Garden City (12-2, 9-0) led 2-0 after the first quarter and opened an 8-1 advantage at halftime, including Ottomanelli scoring three goals during the Trojans’ 4-0 run over the final 6:03 of the second quarter.

“Any time Manhasset and Garden City play in lacrosse, anything can happen,” coach Dave Ettinger said. “You throw out the records. It’s a rivalry from when they are in third grade all the way through here. So any time you can start out fast, it’s definitely an advantage.”

“I have to give a lot of credit to the offense and my teammates for giving me the best looks,” Ottomanelli said. “They were giving me really great passes, so honestly just a credit to them and our hard work and practice.”

The Trojans had seven different goal scorers, including Kimberly Colucci with three goals, Ashley Clark with one goal and two assists and Arcangela Haffner with one goal and one assist.

Mia Gavin had two goals and Elim Yang had three assists for Manhasset.

Manhasset (11-4, 7-3) answered with four goals over the first 2:33 of the second half, but Garden City scored four of the game’s final goals in the victory.

“It’s awesome, especially because it’s our last Woodstick,” senior defender Ellie Andersen said. “It’s always exciting for us seniors to win this and it gives us positive vibes for the rest of the season.”

This year’s Woodstick Classic had a different feel than previous ones, with Garden City and Manhasset both as Class B teams this year. Manhasset has played in Class C in recent years, so the two historic programs could meet in the playoffs. Andersen said the Trojans didn’t want to reveal everything in the event of a postseason matchup but that it’s still thrilling to win the Woodstick Classic.

“I think it gives everyone confidence all over the field,” Anderson said. “I think this was a game everybody thought we had to win to have positive feelings about the season and the rest of the season going into the playoffs.”