By Randy Vogt, Director of Public Relations, Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association
June 15, 2017-In an intriguing match-up between two Long Island Junior Soccer League (LIJSL) teams on Sunday, June 4 at Stringham Park in LaGrange, the Levittown Wildcats shut out the Stony Brook Crew, 1-0, to win the Girls-Under-15 State Open Championship. This is Levittown’s third consecutive state title.
As Girls-Under-15 champs, Levittown brings the Jack Bauman Cup back to Long Island. The namesake of the cup is considered the father of women’s soccer on the island. Jack was devoted to the Massapequa Soccer Club, the Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA) and making sure that girls had as many opportunities to play soccer as boys did.
Kira Olivos scored the game’s only goal off an assist by Olivia Pearse while goalkeepers Jackie Testamark and Katlyn Villacres shared the shutout in net.
“Our fitness and team play made the difference against a very tough opponent. Everybody contributed to the win,” explained Levittown assistant coach Collin Testamark.
Levittown also received the Rocco Amoroso Sportsmanship Award as determined by the game officials. Amoroso, a US Soccer Life Member who died last year, started the LIJSL Sportsmanship Program in 1980 and it spread to Eastern New York, nationally and then to China and Ireland, and in the process, made soccer games kinder and gentler.
Levittown will represent Eastern New York at the Regionals from June 30 to July 4 in Spotsylvania, Virginia.
With over 100,000 youth soccer players––both boys and girls––and more than 25,000 volunteers, the non-profit Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA) stretches from Montauk Point, Long Island to the Canadian border. Members are affiliated with 11 leagues throughout the association, which covers the entire state of New York east of Route 81. ENYYSA exists to promote and enhance the game of soccer for children and teenagers between the ages of 5 and 19 years old, and to encourage the healthy development of youth players, coaches, referees and administrators. All levels of soccer are offered––from intramural, travel team and premier players as well as Children With Special Needs. No child who wants to play soccer is turned away. ENYYSA is a proud member of the United States Soccer Federation and United States Youth Soccer Association. For more information, please log onto http://www.enysoccer.com/, which receives nearly 300,000 hits annually from the growing soccer community.