By Randy Vogt, Director of Public Relations, Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association
June 28, 2017-When Garden City Xtreme goalkeeper Annie Cunningham went down injured in their previous game, Katie Gaven, with no experience in net, went into goal and played 20 minutes. She looked like a polished veteran in helping lead Garden City to a 5-2 win over another Long Island Junior Soccer League (LIJSL) team, the Middle Country Bandits, in the Girls-Under-12 Arch Cup Platinum final played on Saturday, June 3 at Stringham Park in LaGrange.
Chloe Kobel and Katherine Hayes each scored two goals and Fiona Nicholas added one to pace Garden City to the title. Garden City coach Matt Gaven said, “The difference in the game was our speed and intensity.”
Garden City also added the Rocco Amoroso Sportsmanship Award as determined by the game officials. Amoroso, a US Soccer Life Member who died last year, started the Sportsmanship Program of the LIJSL 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.
The Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA) would like to thank our title sponsor, Arch Capital Group, which writes insurance and reinsurance on a worldwide basis through operations in the United States, Bermuda, Canada and Europe, with a focus on specialty lines. Thank you, Arch Capital Group, in providing the funds to help our players keep on dreaming!
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.