With a dozen championship games played at the U.S. Youth Soccer nationals, just having one referee representing your state is honor enough. But what are the odds of a state having not one, not two, but three game officials working the middle of the most important matches of the tournament?

1,000-1? 10,000-1? 1,000,000-1? Well, Eastern New York pulled off a rare triple at this year's tournament outside of Pizza Hut Park in Frisco, Texas.

Consider this impressive lineup, a feat that will be difficult to duplicate or surpass at future youth nationals:

* Ryan Dos Reis, 21, of New Rochelle worked the Boys Under-19 final.

* J.C. Rivero, 26, of Elmsford was in the middle of the Boys U-18 championship game.

* And Dario Urrutia, 24, of Woodhaven, Queens did the whistling in the Boys U-17 title match.

Not bad, not bad at all.

"It's the first time in the history of the youth nationals that you had three referees from any state doing the finals," State Youth Referee Administrator Howard Rubenstein said. "We're very proud of them."

And Eastern New York showed it had quality referees -- in quantity as well. "It proves the fact the the outside world has to recognize that the young referees are up-and-coming referees," Rubenstein said.

Rubenstein said it was his professional opinion that Dos Reis had the best chance of going a long way in officiating -- whether it could be national or FIFA recognition.

Rivero was thought of so highly by national refereeing officials that they allowed him to work the middle of the U-18 final, even though an Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association team, the Terryville Fire, was playing. The Fire captured the crown, besting Arsenal (Cal-South), 1-0.

"Ryan is 21 years of age and he is the youngest of the three," Rubenstein said. "J.C. is by far the best referee in the state."

Rubenstein noted that there were not red cards awarded during the national tournament, which was interesting, because game officials "were enforcing zero tolerance," when it came to foul language. "The players controlled themselves and players didn't have to sit out games for meaningless yellow cards," he said.