The Eastern New York Soccer Hall of Fame inducted eight new members on December 8 -- four from the youth association. The youth honorees included Ray Ward, Patricia Masotto, Ian McDougall and Chris Armas. Rocco Morelli, George Mellis, John Palumbo and Syd Crossley were the adult inductees.

The Hall is a joint venture of the Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association and Eastern New York State Adult Soccer Association. Here are short profiles of the four new youth members (in alphabetical order):

Ray Ward

Ward’s involvement with the beautiful game began as an assistant coach with an Under-6 recreation team in the Catskill Soccer Club. He soccer career certainly took off from there, eventually serving as the club president from 1994-2003.

During his presidency, the club grew from 100 recreational player and two travel teams to 340 rec players and nine travel sides. He also formed an indoor program, enlarged the club’s summer camp programs and formulated an agreement with a local parish school to revitalize a soccer field for the club’s exclusive use and created the organization’s first website.

He also served as the Capital District Youth Soccer League’s vice president from 1995-1998 and as the ENYYSA district commissioner during that same span. Ward also was instrumental in starting the CYDSL office and in increasing the number of players and volunteers in the league as head of the membership committee.

With ENYYSA, Ward became a member of the Premier League committee and was selected as an association trustee in 2000. He was appointed co-chair of the State Cup in 2002 and chair of the same committee in 2003. He was selected first vice president in 2003, a post he still holds today.

A lifelong resident of Catskill, Ward has been married to JoAnn. They have three children. When he isn’t pursuing his many soccer activities, Ward is a tax map supervisor/geographic information systems coordinator for Greene County.

Chris Armas

Considered to be MLS’s top defensive midfielder over its first 12 years, Armas is the first professional player to be elected into the Hall of Fame. In fact, the Hall could not have timed its selection better for Armas, who recently announced his retirement as a professional player after the Chicago Fire was eliminated from the MLS playoffs.

Growing up in Brentwood, L.I., Armas quickly stood out as a player. He performed for Brentwood in the Long Island Junior Soccer League, starred for St. John the Baptist in high school, played for ENYYSA ODP and was a standout at Adelphi University.

He went on to play two seasons for the Long Island Rough Riders (U.S. Interregional Soccer League), becoming a vital member of its national championship team in 1995. He took his game to an even higher level, joining the Los Angeles Galaxy for MLS’s inaugural season in 1996. Armas helped the Galaxy reach the first MLS Cup, scoring a goal before L.A. lost to D.C. United in extratime.

After a trade to the Fire in 1998, Armas really blossomed as a player, turning in a virtuoso performance that season as Chicago won the league crown. The Fire went to the final two more times in what turned into losing causes, although it did capture four Lamar Hunt/U.S. Open Cup championships.

After a short stint with the Puerto Rican National Team, Armas took full advantage of an opportunity to perform with the U.S. national side. He wound up making 66 appearances -- the most by an Eastern New York born player -- and scoring twice from 1998-2006. He helped the U.S. reach the 2002 and 2006 World Cups, but a pair of knee injuries forced him to remain behind.

As a player who performed with his heart and soul, Armas left the league as one of its top players, having earned Best XI honors five times.

Ian McDougall

Born in Hamilton, Scotland in 1930, McDougall learned to play the sport using a tennis ball because nobody in the coal-mining community could afford a soccer ball. He wound up playing for Hamilton Academy after winning a scholarship to the school at the age of 12. He also performed the amateur Clydesdale Amateurs. He also turned down a tryout offer at 16 due to his family’s emigration to the United States.

It didn’t take McDougall long to become involved in the states. He was signed by Jim McGuire (later president of the U.S. Soccer Federation) to play with the Brooklyn Wanderers of the American Soccer League. McDougall also played with the Brooklyn Hispano, Kearny Scots, Hakoah, the latter merging with the New York Americans.

He joined the German-American Soccer League, captaining Eintracht for four years, performing for the Swedish Club (winning team MVP) and the Lindenhurst Soccer Club before finishing his career with Oceanside United. McDougall represented the ASL against Young Boys of Berne, Switzerland and played against Sunderland of England at Ebbets Field.

In his latter years, McDougall made his mark at the youth level. He was a co-founder of Oceanside United and directed youth teams for 35 years and remains a lifetime director of the LIJSL club. McDougall was honored for his contributions to the youth game as he was inducted into the LIJSL Hall of Fame in 2003.

While not playing soccer, the Lynbrook, L.I. resident found time for a family -- he and his wife Janet have three children and six grandchildren. He started and finished his working career with Inco Limited, a premium mining and metals company. Beginning as a messenger, McDougall retired as director, chief financial officer and vice chairman of the board.

Patricia Louise Masotto

In a life and an all too brief career that was caught short by a tragic traffic accident, Masotto distinguished herself as a player at the youth, high school and college levels.

She starred in the LIJSL from 1972 through 1986, leading her Massapequa team to the ENYYSA State Cup and Region I championships in 1979. She repeated that feat again in 1981 as Massapequa finished third at the nationals. Masotto’s team also captured state titles in 1982 and 1983, taking second at the regionals both years. Playing for a rival club team, Masotto’s team defeated her her father Peter’s Massapequa side for a state championship one year.

Masotto was a member of the ENYYSA’s first Girls ODP team, where she played through 1984. She also excelled in high school, connecting for a record 120 goals in only two seasons. That success continued through college. She led after team to a national title, collecting 28 goals and 18 assists in one season. Masotto also received All-American honors at Nassau Community College before going on to score both goals against North Carolina in a 4-2 tournament loss.

Masotto died in a car accident in Farmingdale, L.I., which also took the life of her best friend, Brenda Driscoll. An ENYYSA college scholarship was named after both players. In the late 1980s, the Girls Under-16 national trophy of the U.S. Youth Soccer Association was named after Masotto.

Her father is a former ENYYSA president.