By Randy Vogt, Director of Public Relations, Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association
June 9, 2017-Coliseum Inferno of the Central New York Youth Soccer League shut out Stony Brook Arsenal of the Long Island Junior Soccer League (LIJSL), 4-0, to win the Girls-Under-12 State Open Cup. This Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA) championship game was played on Sunday, June 4 at Stringham Park in LaGrange.
After a scoreless first half, Willa Pratt scored two goals plus Logan Cookinham and Anna Rayhill each netted one to bring the state championship to Utica. Coliseum keeper Savannah Cole had the shutout in goal.
“We had the better of play and put our chances away in the second half,” explained Coliseum coach Charlie Pratt.
Coliseum will represent Eastern New York at the Regionals from June 30 to July 4 in Spotsylvania, Virginia.
Stony Brook received the Rocco Amoroso Sportsmanship Award as determined by the game officials. Amoroso, a US Soccer Life Member who died last year, 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.
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.