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By Randy Vogt, Director of Public Relations, Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association

August 23, 2022-Architect Minoru Yamasaki once said this about his most famous work:

September 11, 2001 changed all that and the world we live in.

Coaches
Joseph Angelini, coach, Lindenhurst Soccer Club
Scott Bart, son of Danny Bart, past president of the Valley Stream Soccer Club and Long Island Junior Soccer League supervisor
Jim Cove, coach, Rockville Centre Soccer Club
Vincent D’Amadeo, coach, Bellport Soccer Club
Andrew Desperito, FDNY, coach of the Bellport Tigers (Boys-Under-11)
Andrew Friedman, coach, Syosset Soccer Club
Bill Gardner, coach, Lynbrook Soccer Club
Edward Geraghty, coach, Rockville Centre Soccer Club
Jim Geyes, coach of the Rockville Centre Lightning (Girls-Under-14)
Thomas Hobbs, coach, Baldwin Scorpions (Boys-Under-11)
Rudy Mastrocinque, coach of the Kings Park Celtic (Boys-Under-12), past president of the club
Kevin Murphy, coach, Northport Youth Center
Gerald Olcott, coach of the Albertson Lightning Bolts (Boys-Under-19)
Adam Ruhalter, coach Plainview/OB (Boys-Under-10)
Howard Selwyn, coach of the Hewlett/Lawrence Blue Blast (Boys-Under-10)
Lonnie Stone, coach, Bellmore PAL
Steve Tighe, coach of the Rockville Centre Revolution (Boys-Under-12)
Danny Trant, former coach of the Northport/Cow Harbor Bandits (Girls-Under-19)
Paul Zols, coach, Oceanside United Soccer Club

Players, parents
Ezra Aviles, Commack
Erwin Ecker, Farmingdale
Craig Gibson, Barnstonworth Rovers FC (Cosmopolitan Soccer League)
Gary Herold, Farmingdale
Billy Johnston, FDNY, played originally for the North Babylon Patriots
Mrs. James Kenworthy, wife of the coach of Downtown United Soccer Club, Farrell Lynch
Joseph Maloney, Sachem Youth Soccer League
Peter Nelson, South Huntington
Patrick O’Shea, Farmingdale
John Paolillo, North Shore Soccer Club
Christopher Quackenbush, Manhasset Soccer Club
Paul Sarle, North Babylon
Tommy Schubert, New York Hota
Chris Sullivan, Farmingdale
Tim Suozzo, Hauppauge
John Tipping II, Smithtown
Sergio Villanueva, FDNY, player, College Point Flames (Long Island Soccer Football League)

A boys team from a recent Exceptional Senior Games

By Randy Vogt, Director of Public Relations, Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association

November 1, 2016-The Long Island Junior Soccer League (LIJSL) started the Exceptional Senior Games in 1981 so that top high school senior soccer players could be scouted by college coaches all in one venue. This all-star competition spread throughout the United States and continues on Long Island 35 years later, although it’s now organized exclusively by Nassau County Boys Soccer and the Suffolk County Boys Soccer Coaches Association.

One of the most successful Exceptional Senior Games, in addition to the one on Long Island, takes place a short corner kick from Albany every year. The Capital District Youth Soccer League (CDYSL) will be organizing its Exceptional Senior Games on Friday, November 11, continuing its tradition of playing these games on Veterans Day. The CDYSL has been organizing this competition of both public and private schools annually during its two decades of existence with the Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA) providing financial support.

”We organize everything, including providing jerseys and booklets with profiles on each player. The only thing we don’t do is select the players during the tryouts as that is done by the Section 2 high school coaches,” explained Exceptional Senior Games Director Kathy Marco of the CDYSL.

A girls team from a recent Exceptional Senior Games

Approximately 120 college coaches will once again be scouting and meeting players at DiCaprio Park in Guilderland. The full schedule:

Boys Games
10 am-Central Hudson Valley vs. Adirondack on Field 1
11 am-Western Athletic Conference vs. Wasaren League on Field 2
Noon-Colonial Council vs. Patroon Conference on Field 1
1 pm-Suburban Council Gold vs. Foothills Council on Field 2
2 pm-Suburban Council Blue vs. Suburban Council White on Field 1

Girls Games
10 am-Colonial Council vs. Foothills Council on Field 3
11 am-Wasaren League vs. Patroon Conference on Field 4
Noon-Central Hudson Valley and Adirondack vs. Western Athletic Conference on Field 3
1 pm-Suburban Council White vs. Suburban Council Red on Field 4

Please join us for an exceptional day of soccer! For more info, contact Kathy Marco at kathy.marco@cdysl.org or 518-435-2325.

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 on to http://www.enysoccer.com/, which receives nearly 300,000 hits annually from the growing soccer community.

By Randy Vogt, Director of Public Relations, Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association
 
June 12, 2018-Lake Grove/Newfield United 2001 goalkeeper Ryan McGovern was the hero of the Boys-Under-17 State Open Cup final by saving four penalty kicks during the shootout. Lake Grove/Newfield had tied another Long Island Junior Soccer League (LIJSL) team, the Levittown Gunners, 3-3, after both regulation and overtime and became state champs, winning 2-1, in six rounds of the shootout.

The game for the Jose Vargas Cup was played on June 3 at Stringham Park in LaGrange. Jose was an enthusiastic ref who served as State Referee Administrator, State Youth Referee Administrator and State Director of Assessment as well as President of the East Hudson Youth Soccer League (EHYSL) and East Fishkill Soccer Club.

Lake Grove/Newfield coach Frank Stagnitta stated, “It was Levittown the first 15 minutes, then we went up 3-0. We then became too fancy and they caught us."

Olsen Aluc, Tyler Rosenfeld and Olvin Yanes scored Lake Grove/Newfield’s goals during regulation while Steven Rojas and Nicholas Pozo scored in the shootout.

Levittown 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 to Eastern New York, nationally and then to China and Ireland, and in the process, made soccer games kinder and gentler.

Lake Grove/Newfield will represent the Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA) 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.

By Randy Vogt, Director of Public Relations, Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association 

September 24, 2020-Sometimes great saves do not involve goalkeepers.

When the Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA) sought nominations for our Of the Year Awards, including the Save of the Year, different videos were submitted including for the winning entrant, goalkeeper Duran Lee of SC Gjøa Nordtveit in the Cosmopolitan Junior Soccer League (CJSL).

A Save of the Year nomination that did not win but was very creative and heartwarming came from Staten Island Youth Soccer League (SIYSL) volunteer Liz Morano. She wrote:

As New York State spiraled down into the depths of the Covid crises and New York City became Ground Zero once again, all soccer activities were “paused“ along with just about every other aspect of our daily lives. We were bombarded hourly with stories of suffering and death. Stories abounded of overloaded ICU's, health care professionals overworked and on edge plus essential workers battling this terrible disease. Further exacerbating the situation was an extreme shortage of PPE for all front line workers. Very early on in the crisis, the SIYSL Charity Committee became aware of an opportunity to purchase PPE. They immediately conferred with the Executive Board who gave the thumbs-up. Our charity budget was used to purchase thousands of masks which were then distributed across Staten Island to organizations in need. Who knows how many lives were saved by the quick and decisive action of both the Executive Board and the Charity Committee? It is for this reason, I hope that you will allow me to nominate Tom Baroz, Charity Committee Chair, along with Executive Board members Bill Smith, Rob Libertelli, Rich Nellis, Mike Segreto, Anthony Piciscottano, Fred Cipriani and Maureen Motley for the Save of the Year.

In early April, the SIYSL secured 12,000 disposable masks and distributed to local hospitals, nursing homes, NYPD and FDNY first responders.

”This was a donation valued around $9,000 from the league to New York City. We believe it is important for the league to support our community and our constituents, many of whom are nurses, doctors, medical technicians plus members of the NYPD and FDNY,” Fred Cipriani, the league's Treasurer, said.

With approximately 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 nine 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 on to http://www.enysoccer.com/, which receives nearly 300,000 hits annually from the growing soccer community.

From left to right: Official of the Year Emmanuel Tadonkeng, Assistant Referee of the Year Joe Zawistowski, NYMISOA President John Puglisi, New Official of the Year Jason Silver, Dennis Botsaris Service Award recipient George Snizek.

By Randy Vogt, Director of Public Relations, Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association

November 22, 2016-What compels a ref who has advanced to the highest levels of college soccer to continue to ref youth games around their college schedule? For many officials in the New York Metro Intercollegiate Soccer Officials Association (NYMISOA), it’s so they can continue to refine their game and also because of their loyalty to the Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA), where they cut their teeth as refs.

NYMISOA, serving colleges and junior colleges in New York City, Long Island and Westchester, held its Annual Awards Dinner on Monday night, November 14 at the Sterling in Bethpage. As voted by the general membership, four officials who particularly made a difference during the recently-completed college regular season were honored.

Emmanuel Tadonkeng of Queens Village was voted the Official of the Year. He is originally from Cameroon and served as captain of Globe Institute of Technology, graduating in 2009. When he is not refereeing college soccer, Emmanuel refs in the Cosmopolitan Junior Soccer League (CJSL), Big Apple Youth Soccer League (BAYSL), Metrokids Interregional Soccer League, Eastern New York Premier League (ENYPL) and Eastern Regional League.

Syosset’s Joe Zawistowski was honored as the Assistant Referee of the Year. Outside of college soccer, Joe refs in the CJSL, Long Island Junior Soccer League (LIJSL), ENYPL and the Eastern Regional League.

Merrick resident Jason Silver was selected as the New Official of the Year. Just like his friend Zawistowski, Jason also refs in the LIJSL, ENYPL and the Eastern Regional League.

Eastern New York Soccer Hall of Famer George Snizek of West Hempstead received the Dennis Botsaris Service Award for his decades of service to soccer. George is one of the few people in all of humanity who is a Hall of Famer in two different sports as he’s also a member of the National Drag Racing Hall of Fame. The George Snizek and Charlie Dodge Racing Team amassed over 150 event wins together on the Tasmanian Devil on East Coast dragstrips in the 1950s and ‘60s, before George turned his attention back to soccer. He refereed many LIJSL games in the past couple of decades.

”Our role is to help young men and women develop as part of their education. It’s a tremendous responsibility for our members and these four honorees have done a terrific job in this regard,” explained NYMISOA President John Puglisi.

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 on to http://www.enysoccer.com/, which receives nearly 300,000 hits annually from the growing soccer community.

By Randy Vogt, Director of Public Relations, Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association
 
June 12, 2018-A red card in the 53rd minute proved pivotal in the Girls-Under-17 State Open Cup finals on June 3 at Stringham Park in LaGrange. In this battle between two Long Island Junior Soccer League (LIJSL) teams, Brentwood Blaze had the player sent off but then rallied to defeat the Lynbrook/East Rockaway Screaming Eagles, 4-2.

“We woke up after the red card and scored four goals,” explained Brentwood coach Chris Roche.

Kristin Finery, Amy Lederer, Ashley Lindsay and Fiona Smyth tallied Brentwood's goals.

Brentwood 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 to Eastern New York, nationally and then to China and Ireland, and in the process, made soccer games kinder and gentler.

Brentwood will represent the Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA) 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.