By Randy Vogt, Director of Public Relations, Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association
July 25, 2025-Congratulations to the Long Island Futsal Academy (LIFA), who won the US Youth Futsal national championship in the Girls HS Division on July 21 in New Century, Kansas. They won all four games, outscoring their opponents 16-3 and won the final over Dragons Futsal from Pittsburgh, 4-1.
“Our biggest strength is our defense and team structure,” commented LIFA coach Chris Sanders. “We defend as a unit with the five players on the pitch and rely on our ability to force teams into low percentage shots toward our goal. We might not light up the scoreboard but we’re hard to score against. I think our advantage at Nationals is we have players who understand their role and responsibilities.”
Front row, left to right: Gracie Sanders, Brooke Delzatto, Taylor Gray
Additionally, Carolyn Rowe, Samantha Gemmo and Vanessa Frangiadakis helped qualify the team for Nationals but could not attend the competition.
This caps a trophy-filled year for the team that wears New York’s colors of blue and orange as LIFA won the US Youth Futsal Mid-Atlantic Regionals in Richmond, Virginia in January and the US Futsal Northeast Regionals in Atlantic City, New Jersey in February. The Nationals for both competitions was the same weekend and they opted to go to the US Youth Futsal version since they will age out of US Youth Futsal but can play US Futsal as adults for years to come.
The team competed in the Boys HS Division of the Long Island Futsal League last winter when they were not playing in Regionals against other girls teams.
“Playing against boys increased the team’s quickness by forcing us to make faster decisions,” Coach Sanders explained. “It also increased our transition awareness as we had to keep up with the boys’ speed and natural desire to push the pace.”
LIFA seeks players to follow in the footsteps of its national championship team that plays out of the All Star Arena in Coram. For more info about registration for all youth age groups, please contact Chris Sanders at futsalacademy@optonline.net or 631-914-2778.
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 on to http://www.enysoccer.com/