Melville, L.I. -- Three men who made a different in local soccer were inducted into the Long Island Junior Soccer League Hall of Fame Friday night. The three were Frank Asselta, Dennis Machtel and the late John Schroeder, who were honored at the league's annual volunteer of the year dinner at the Huntington Hilton Friday night.

Asselta, from the Bethpage Soccer Club, has served as president of the Bethpage Soccer Club for more than 10 years, including as club registrar the past two years, coaching for more than 20 years and being a member of several LIJSL committees over the years.

"Frank Aseelta is an inspirational example of what one person can accomplish," the Bethpage S.C. said in its nominating letter. "He shows us how to volunteer and serve our community. He demonstrates going about his taks in his own quiet way, never patting himself on he back, never seeking recognition. He does it because of his love of the game and the children that play it."

Machtel, from the West Babylon Soccer Club, has been an active member of the club for more than 20 years. He has coached his three children, a division co-coordinator, a vice president, president and referee for the Long Island Soccer Referees Association and an advocate of the assistant referee program.

According to the nominating letter by the West Babylon club, the dictionary "defines volunteer as 'one who enters into or offers himself for a service of his own free will.' That is Dennis Machtel. He has helped to bring the quality of the components of the game to its highest point in West Babylon. We can only hope for more people like Dennis to step forward for the sake of the children."

Schroeder, one of the most prolific and popular youth soccer coaches, was nominated by the Massapequa Soccer Club. He was honored posthumously after he passed away in his sleep Oct. 6. He directed more than 20 teams, many of which earned State Cup titles in the Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association. After his wife, Ruth, passed away in 1983 due to an unknown alergy to penicillin, Schroeder decided to coach his daughters, Tina and Carrie, to stay close to them.

"My uncle used soccer as a way of spending quality time with his two daughters," Randy Vogt told the dinner's audience. "When Tina and Carrie graduated from the LIJSL, Uncle John started coaching other parents' kids. And became one of the league's best coaches in the process. As Tina and Carrie will tell you, he hated to lose and would be up at 3 a.m. devising new tactics and training techniques so that his teams returned to their winning ways.

"Lincoln Page (former Massapequa S.C. president) has commented that some of the success of the Massapequa Soccer Club during the past three decades can be attributed of all of Uncle John's volunteering."