By Randy Vogt, Director of Public Relations, Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association
June 7, 2013-In their fifth year of existence, the Brentwood Pride shut out another Long Island Junior Soccer League (LIJSL) team, the West Islip Strikers, 2-0, to gain the Girls-Under-15 State Open Cup championship. The title game for state supremacy took place at Stringham Park in LaGrange on June 1.
After a scoreless first half, Brentwood’s Claudia Cagnina scored on a beautiful 20-yard shot into the upper corner of the net in the 45th minute after Edasia Martinez provided the assist. In the 62nd minute and on a feed from Mary Ohara, Tara Lyons completed the scoring after dribbling around the defense. Brentwood’s Angela DiFazio received the shutout in goal.
"The key to our game is ball possession," said Brentwood coach Nir Sveri. "The girls realized that keeping the ball at their feet would eventually create scoring chances and we were able to score twice in the second half."
Brentwood will represent the Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA) at the Regionals from June 28 to July 2 at the University of Rhode Island. Eastern New York is donating $2,000 to the team and paying all expense fees for the Regionals.
West Islip received the Howard Rubenstein Sportsmanship Award as selected by the game officials. Now living in Ohio, the remarkable Rubenstein was seemingly involved in every facet of New York soccer for decades and is a member of the Halls of Fame of Eastern New York, the US Amateur Soccer Association and the Long Island Junior Soccer League.
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. Eastern New York 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. Eastern New York 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.