By Randy Vogt, Director of Public Relations, Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association
June 13, 2025-AB7 Future Soccer Academy Blue topped East Coast FC B2014 on penalty kicks in the Boys-Under-11 Platinum Challenge Cup final, organized by the Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA), on Sunday, June 1 at the Blue Sky Sports Complex in Middletown.
Both squads were deadlocked at 2-2 after regulation and both overtimes. AB7 Future Soccer Academy prevailed 9-8 in the penalty kick shootout to bring the cup back to Staten Island with them.
“I commend the heart and desire of this team and they kept coming back, being down 1-0 and then 2-1,” explained AB7 coach Armando Guarnera.
Faaz Norman and Alvin Sufaj scored the goals for the champs who play out of the Cosmopolitan Junior Soccer League (CJSL).
East Coast, from Long Island, received the Rocco Amoroso Sportsmanship Award as determined by the game officials. Amoroso, a US Soccer Life Member who died nine years ago, started the Long Island Junior Soccer League (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 10 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 US Youth Soccer. For more information, please log onto http://www.enysoccer.com/