Like Muhammad Ali in his prime, the Garden City Sharks fifth grade travel lacrosse team takes on all comers. Recently, the Sharks concluded an impressive three-day, three-game unbeaten stint in competing against three of the region's toughest contenders. On May 7, under the lights at the US Merchant Marine Academy, Garden City dismantled one of Jersey's best, the Ridgewood Maroons (6-2). The Sharks blitzed to a 7-1 halftime lead before sportsmanly easing the throttle towards a convincing 11-4 victory.

The following afternoon, Garden City ventured to the lush grounds of Harborfields High School to face-off against the Harborfields Tornadoes (4-0). Unbeaten, confident, yet unsuspecting, the Tornadoes ran into a buzz-saw as Garden City's Short Fin Mako riding attack platoon of Noble, Garcia, Clarkson and Confort were at their best in preventing Harborfields from executing the vast majority of their clears.

Goalies John Bock and Alex Castronova took turns admiring the dandelions as the game's final score of 7-1 did not nearly reflect the dominance of the Sharks' performance. In each of these two games, Garden City dominated in three critical areas: ground balls, face-offs and shots-on-goal and in a true team effort, 11 different Sharks players, including Clarkson, Coleman, Confort, Dwyer, Garcia, Gordon, Jahelka, Johnson, Mahon, O'Brien and Thornton, either scored and/or assisted on goals.

The last leg of the trilogy featured a Mother's Day early morning return trip to the wooded hills of Cold Spring Harbor, the site of the Sharks' opening day 5-3 victory two months earlier. A highly motivated Cold Spring Harbor jumped out to a 2-0 lead, but Garden City, in trademark fashion, responded. With three minutes remaining in the half, Devin Dwyer capitalized in scoring off his steal of an errant clearing pass, and moments later while executing Coach Doug Dwyer's man-up play, Kyle Johnson fed Tom Gordon whose shot tied the game at 2-2.

A strategic and pressure filled second half with little to no margin for error was dominated by both squad's defenses. Each team had several chances but outstanding goalie play prevailed as Sharks' cagemen Bock and Castronova, along with defensemen Kufs and Adams, helped Garden City pitch a second half shutout as the game ended in a well played and coached 2-2 tie. Coaches Coleman, Jahelka and Hollis are very proud and encouraged with the team's progress.

The Sharks (5-2-1) continued their tough schedule in hosting Huntington on May 12 on the turf of the US Merchant Marine Academy. On Saturday, May 15, the Sharks ventured across the Sound to Connecticut looking for some revenge of their own in a rematch against the Greenwich fifth grade 'A' team. For more details and game photos, visit the Sharks' team website at www.GCSharks.com.