By Randy Vogt, Director of Public Relations, Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association
June 11, 2018-Two Long Island Junior Soccer League (LIJSL) teams, the Lynbrook/East Rockaway Sting and Smithtown Hurricanes, battled it out for over two hours for supremacy in the state. The Boys-Under-16 State Open Cup final for the Livio D’Arpino Cup was played on June 3 at Stringham Park in LaGrange.
Livio was a beloved Vice President of the Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA) who was involved in seemingly every level of local soccer before his untimely passing in 2002.
“Our two teams are so evenly matched and we kept coming back as we never quit,” stated Smithtown coach Charles Bell.
Issah Khanat scored for Smithtown in regulation, which finished 1-1, and Andrew Agunzo tied the game at 2-2 in overtime. Smithtown won the championship in the shootout, 4-1. Smithtown keeper Mike Gasparino saved two penalty kicks in the shootout while Smithtown’s Jake Shin, Jared Sciarino, Ryan Safran and Noah Lavenchik converted their kicks.
The new champs also received the Rocco Amoroso Sportsmanship Award, as determined by the game officials. Amoroso, a US Soccer Life Member who died in 2016, started the LIJSL Sportsmanship Program in 1980 and it spread around the world.
Smithtown will represent Eastern New York at the Regionals from June 29 to July 3 in Spotsylvania, Virginia as part of the National Championship Series.
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.