New Hyde Wildcats Soccer Roundup

By Annette Giarrateni

Daisy Division Sportsmanship Team Winners: Dancing Bears.

Any travel coach planning to go to a Pocono Cup Tournament in 1998 and would like an entry discount, please call Mike Guercio at 488-7510, only one available, first call, first served.

Congratulation to all the teams who went to tourneys. Coaches, please submit articles by the 6:30 p.m. deadline on Sundays (last day of competition).

Congratulations to all the sportsmanship and division winners. Job well done!

U-9 Boys Capture Second Place at West Islip Tourney

The Boys Under 9 New Hyde Park Wildcats took second place in the prestigious 16th annual West Islip Soccer Club Indoor Tournament. Excellent goalkeeping and defense, as well as a high pressure offense resulted in two wins, two ties and a loss.

The Wildcats opened the tournament with a 0-0 tie against the host team from West Islip. Excellent goalkeeping by Nicholas Fishman and offensive play by Gregory Fink kept the pressure on West Islip the whole game. In the second game, the Wildcats dominated Bay Shore with tremendous offensive pressure by Seth Levine and defensive finesse by Giovanni Palazzo. The result was another 0-0 tie. With the need for a win increasing, David Fliegel scored on a throw-in and Steven Mastrandrea dominated in the defensive end, as the Wildcats beat Babylon 1-0. In spite of gutsy play by Steven Sweeney and Luigi Muto, the next game resulted in a loss to first place Brentwood 2-0. The Wildcats needed a victory against Smithtown to clinch second place. The final game included a last minute point blank save by David Fliegel and a heroic score by Steven Mastrandrea, after intense all-around pressure, with 12 seconds left. The final score was 1-0 and the Wildcats took second place!