Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2013: Garden City ousts South Side in Nassau final

   Leading off today: Rockville Centre South Side will not get a chance to play for its 18th New York State Public High School Athletic Association girls soccer championship.

   Garden City upset its Nassau County archrival and two-time defending state champion by a 5-3 score in penalty kicks after the teams played to a scoreless tie in sudden death in the Section 8 Class A championship game.

   The Cyclones had won seven of the last nine state championships. Their 17 state crowns are more than any team in any sport in the history of the NYSPHSAA postseason.

   Senior Taylor Carpentier, a lacrosse standout in her first season in the nets in soccer, made 16 saves for Garden City in a performance freshman teammate Kelly George called "Legendary. Literally, legendary." With 2:09 left in the sudden death, Carpentier poked away a shot seemingly headed for the top left corner of the net.

   "The nerves rush through you," midfielder Haley O'Hanlon told Newsday, "and I'm thinking, 'Taylor, please, please, get a hand on that.'"

   With Garden City up 4-3, George converted her PK, sending Garden City into the NYSPHSAA quarterfinals this weekend against Sayville.

   Another PK shootout: Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake moved into the Class A quarterfinals of the girls soccer tournament after beating Jamesville-DeWitt 3-1 in penalty kicks. The squads had played to a 2-2 tie through regulation and sudden death.

   Morgan Burchhardt, Meghan Malone and Jenna Retell converted their penalty kicks to advance the Spartans to the state quarterfinals against Peru or Malone. Burchhardt and Malone each scored in regulation of the rematch of a 2012 playoff won by J-D.

   Sophomore keeper Haley Schultz, inserted into the game for the penalty kicks, stopped two of three attempts by Jamesville-DeWitt. "I just pretty much react," Schultz told The Times Union. "I don't like to guess. I look at the ball and watch the ball the whole way through."

   Both Red Rams goals in regulation were scored by Alex Catanzartie.

   Marcellus appoints Cizenski: Marcellus' board of education has appointed Marc Cizenski to replace Leo McInerney, whose contract as boys lacrosse coach was not renewed in a highly controversial decision.

   McInerney, the coach since 2011, was not offered a new

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contract apparently as the result of a dispute over his club lacrosse team's use of the Marcellus field for practice sessions, The Post-Standard reported. District officials have refused to discuss the matter, claiming confidentiality rules.

   "It's disappointing," McInerney said, "the way our administration handles its business."

   Cizenski, 26, has been a junior varsity coach and was McInerney's defensive coordinator. McInerney, 29-25 in three seasons including 12-6 last spring. gave him a strong endorsement.

   "I think he's going to do a fantastic job," he said of the former West GEnesee All-American.

   Quirky story alert: Why am I about to post an item about cross country in Kentucky? Let's just say the devil made me do it and leave it at that.

   In a story beyond strange, a Kentucky junior runner voluntarily walked away from a chance to qualify for the state cross country

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meet to avoid running with the bib number "666", which she said conflicted with her Christian beliefs. Codie Thacker and her coach argued that she should be allowed to switch her number, but race officials refused.

   Meet officials later denied Thacker has cited religious reasons, though the junior insists she was clear about her concerns.

   "I didn't want to risk my relationship with God and try to take that number," Thacker told a local TV station. "I told them to mark out my name because it makes me sick just thinking that my name is associated with that number."