By Randy Vogt, Director of Public Relations, Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association
June 5, 2014-The Long Island Junior Soccer League’s (LIJSL) Bayport Tsunami won the Boys-Under-12 State Open Cup last year but experience was not enough in 2014 as Manhattan Emelec of the Westchester Youth Soccer League (WYSL) dethroned them, 4-1. The Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA) Boys-Under-13 State Open Cup final was played on Saturday, May 31 at Stringham Park in LaGrange.
Andrea Gjushi, Daniel Lambert, Filip Markovic and Eduardo Perez-Pelaes scored for Manhattan while Jean Carlos Lopez hit the net for Bayport.
“All our players fought hard and gave everything,” commented Manhattan coach Freddy Fuentes.
Manhattan received the Howard Rubenstein Sportsmanship Award, as selected by the match officials, and a $2,000 check from Eastern New York to defer the costs of playing in the Regionals from June 26 to July 1 in Kingston, Rhode Island.
The champions are named after the Ecuadoran Serie A team, Emelec. The professional club was founded on April 28, 1929 by George Capwell, the American leader of Ecuador’s electric company, Empresa Eléctrica del Ecuador, which formed the word Emelec.
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 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 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.