By Randy Vogt, Director of Public Relations, Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association
June 6, 2014-You need not be a fortune teller to realize that a Rampage team clad in blue-and-white was going to win the Boys-Under-15 State Open Cup final on Saturday, May 31 at Stringham Park in LaGrange. After all, the blue-and-white clad Lake Grove Rampage of the Long Island Junior Soccer League (LIJSL) was playing the blue-and-white clad East Fishkill Rampage of the East Hudson Youth Soccer League (EHYSL) for supremacy in the Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA).
Lake Grove’s John Kazubowski went on a rampage by scoring a three-goal hat trick as Lake Grove won, 3-0, with Brian Terra getting the shutout in goal.
“After losing last year’s final in a shootout, we rededicated ourselves and I think it really showed in the way we played today,” commented Lake Grove coach Tim Graham.
They went to seven rounds of the shootout before losing the 2013 final to the FC Somers Razors.
Lake Grove received 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.
East Fishkill received the Howard Rubenstein Sportsmanship Award as selected by the match officials. Now retired, Mr. 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 LIJSL.
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.