Garden City lacrosse players Chris Houston (attack), B.J. Praeger (attack), Matt Sheridan (attack), Doug Staab (attack), Michael Dunn (midfield), Will O'Neill (midfield), Brett Tietjen (midfield), Will Blum (defense), Will Flannery (defense), Matt McFarland (defense), and Chris Matteini (goalie) will all be participating in this year's round of Battle of the Sound games organized by Garrison Miller, formerly of Long Island, and now a resident of Darien, Connecticut. Miller created the games to help promote high school lacrosse and to give players from Connecticut an opportunity to compete with players from across Long Island Sound. Players from Greenwhich High School, Fairfield Prep, New Canaan High School, and Darien High School have a unique opportunity to compete against Garden City High School, Manhasset High School, Stony Brook School, Lynbrook School, Chaminade, and St. Anthony's.

Coach Doc Dougherty of Garden City High School will take his team to Manhasset High School on Saturday, April 18 for an 11 a.m. game against New Canaan. According to pre-season rankings, Garden City High School is ranked number two in Class B for Nassau County. Matt McFarland, William Praeger, and Doug Staab are all Long Island Empire Players.

Garrison Miller commented on last year's event, "Unfortunately, it was a very rainy day, but we still had 700 people in attendance. The event was a great success because we were able to convince two of Long Island's powerhouse teams, Garden City and Manhasset, to come to Connecticut. Also, Darien became State Champion of Connecticut and Garden City was the New York State Champion for Class B." He added, "Hopefully, we have some new converts for high school lacrosse. Also, they must have been impressed with how many Garden City and Manhasset fans traveled to the game. The Garden City fans even had a big tailgate. All of them were wearing their maroon and white."

According to Miller, Manhasset High School is expecting 2,000 fans to turn out for the big games. He says he feels that, "Having the best schools from Long Island play the best schools from Connecticut will generate a lot of excitement. Connecticut's high school lacrosse is on the rise." He says he also believes that, "The top 10 academic institutions have the top 10 lacrosse programs. Lacrosse is a door opener, especially if you come out of a great program." He also stated that he sees that Manhasset and Garden City players have an advantage as coaches from college teams have worked to construct a "pipeline" with these schools. Miller would like to help develop the same kind of "pipeline" for schools in Connecticut and adds that Darien High School has begun to do so.

Garden City High School students may have a hand in opening doors thanks to the excellence of the district's lacrosse program, but the students are also dedicated and industrious in their academic endeavors. Miller noted that the students in Garden City all have high aspirations for themselves as he looked over the college choices the players had listed in their personal biographies. Chris Houston has listed Boston College, Lehigh, and Providence as his three top choices. B.J. Praeger has selected Princeton; Doug Staab has selected Georgetown; Chris Matteini has selected Harvard; and William Flannery has selected Cornell. Both Brett Tietjen and Matt McFarland have selected U. Mass. Michael Dunn has listed St. Joseph's, VMI, and West Point as his three top choices. Matt Sheridan is waiting before he announces his college choices.

Miller concluded that he hoped that these games would encourage people to both play and support high school lacrosse. He added that next year "we'll be flipping the four teams. Garden City will now play Darien and New Canaan will play Manhasset." He also urged everyone to spread the word about this year's games and come support the Garden City athletes.