Our eight smiling winners got nothing less than first place at the Bellport Tournament held recently. What a pleasure to coach these U7 girls from the New Hyde Park Wildcats Soccer Club called "Wonder Cats." They played their hardest, stayed in their positions, and had fun. The teams that we played against were equally competitive but in the end, the girls did their best and came out on top. During the games all the girls did great. Ever hear the saying, defenders save the game and offenders get the glory. Well the spotlight should fall on the defenders; they truly saved the game. The stars in defense were Stephanie Zovich, Joanna Mauceri, Irene Tsahas and Lauren Wasserman. They kept the ball a safe distance from our goalie for almost the whole tournament. The few times the ball did get by them, our outstanding goalies, Julia Feldman and Kristina Horan, made some great saves. Even when Kristina got hit in the face, saving a goal, she continued to play hard. Leading the offense there was some fancy footwork by Marina Pappas who led the team with most goals, eight, during the tournament and Logan Ward following her with her share of scoring. Logan also helped the defense by keeping the ball mostly up front for much of the tournament. The excitement of the games kept us on the edge of our seats. It was just as exciting as watching the professionals play soccer. Congratulations girls! Your coaches are proud of all of you.