Frank Vertullo holding the national championship trophy
By Randy Vogt, Director of Public Relations, Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association
December 3, 2014-The Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA) is very pleased to announce that Suffolk Community College men’s coach Frank Vertullo is our Personality of the Month for December. Frank coached the Sharks to the national championship in 2010 and again last month. Although the roster was completely different from one national championship team to the other, the great majority of both squads grew up playing soccer in Eastern New York.
As a youth, Frank played in the Long Island Junior Soccer League (LIJSL), for the North Babylon Bulldogs (coached by “the late and amazing Gary Galletta,” he said) and Massapequa TNT. Frank also competed for three years for the LIJSL Select Team and two years for Eastern New York ODP.
He played at Dowling College from 1997 to 2000 and was Conference Rookie of the Year, All-Conference three times, captain of the team for three seasons and starting center back. He also played for the New York Freedoms of the United Soccer Leagues (USL) in 2002 and 2003.
Frank served as Dowling’s assistant coach from 2001 to 2006, helping lead the Golden Lions to four NCAA Division 2 Final Fours and the 2006 national championship. With that success on his coaching resume, he took over the Suffolk Community College men’s program in 2007. The Sharks have won five Region XV titles and two national championships during this time and he has been honored as Region XV Coach of the Year four times and NSCAA National Coach of the Year in 2010. Proving that nice guys finish first, Frank has also won the Sportsmanship Award in 2008 given by the New York Metro Intercollegiate Soccer Officials Association (NYMISOA).
The 34-year-old Babylon Village resident has coached LIJSL teams since 2008. He’s now the trainer of the Dix Hills Heat after previously coaching Commack Premier and Commack United.
Entering the junior college Final Four as the fourth seed with a 19-4-0 record, Suffolk played number one seed and host Herkimer Community College on November 14. Frank said the snowfall in Herkimer actually helped the Sharks as it “limited the size of the home crowd who came to watch the game.” A 12th minute goal by Romario Hulea was all the Sharks needed to avenge their loss to Herkimer in the 2013 national championship game and advance, 1-0.
The Sharks continued as underdogs in the national title game on November 16 against number two seed Richland Community College from Texas, who defeated them 5-2 back in September. With no snow in sight, Joseph Lopez and Hulea scored for the Sharks and goalkeeper Jon Zapata, named championship game MVP, made six saves as Richland applied pressure in the second half to preserve Suffolk’s 2-1 lead.
Frank, who was named Coach of the Tournament, stated, “There are so many factors that are involved in winning multiple national championships. Consistency, recruiting, experience and creating a family atmosphere within the program are the key components. The success of the program has also helped in the recruiting process of potential student-athletes wanting to leave home to play at Suffolk even without the convenience of campus housing. However, just bringing in talent is not always good enough.”
Coach Vertullo continued, “My student-athletes have always given me 100% effort and have done everything I’ve asked of them. Along with recruiting is the closeness of the student-athletes year in and year out. The family atmosphere we create makes the student-athletes want to play for one another and they hold each other accountable. The student-athletes also draw on my experiences from coaching in eight Final Fours in the past 14 years. Each year, we pull positives and negatives out of each Final Four experience and bring that into the next year’s tournament to further be prepared and to put the student-athletes and the program in the best possible position to succeed.”
Congratulations to Frank Vertullo, national champion coach and Eastern New York’s December Personality of the Month.
With 123,843 youth soccer players––68,587 boys and 55,256 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 12 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 Special Children. 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 on to http://www.enysoccer.com/, which receives nearly 300,000 hits annually from the growing soccer community.
Suffolk Community College in blue and Herkimer Community College in white
as the line-ups are announced before the national semifinals