With three wins and a tie over their last four games, The Breakers, Mineola's U11 girls travel team, have earned a first place finish in the Long Island Junior Soccer League's Division 4. Running neck to neck with the East Meadow Power, the road to first place required winning all four games, including a game against the Power themselves. Here's how they did it:

With a tough fought win against Wantagh behind them, the Breakers looked to build on their four wins and one tie record. Facing the New Hyde Park Soccer Cats on the road, Mineola found itself playing against two unusually tough opponents. One was the condition of the field, the other were the Soccer Cats' themselves. With a muddy field and slippery conditions, the Breaker offense just couldn't get on track. Hitting the post, shooting high or wide, or just good goaltending kept Mineola at bay all game. Defensively, Mineola's defense unit held New Hyde Park in check while Mineola's offense tried to find itself. This, however, was not to be as the game ended in a 0-0 tie.

With the frustration of last week's tie with New Hyde Park still on their minds, the Breakers faced the Hicksville Patriots at Wilson Field. Needing a win to keep pace with the East Meadow Power, Mineola broke out of their offensive slump with the first goal of the game scored by Kalie Medlock. With the defensive unit standing up the Patriot offense, the half came to an end with Mineola leading 1-0. Coming out for the second half, Mineola's offense took control as Mary Henry and Ryann Pitcavage scored goals to put the Patriots away, 3-0.

With their record now standing at 5 wins, 0 losses and 2 ties, the Breakers faced their biggest challenge of the season. With the game played at Soccer Park, Mineola faced the East Meadow Power. Mineola opened the scoring on a goal by the quick thinking Dana Klein. Dana's goal was set up by a long shot taken by Maryann Sanderleaf that was poorly handled by the Power defense. With the ball loose in front of the goal, Mary Henry took a shot that bounced off the goalie, with the rebound quickly put in by Dana Klein. With Mineola leading at the half 1-0, the offense came out looking to provide some breathing room for the defense. The breathing room they were looking for actually arrived in the form of Mineola's sweeper Alexa Vojvodic. Her kick from just inside the midfield line bounced in front of the goal on a fly and spun into the goal to give Mineola a 2-0 lead. With that goal, the defense put up a wall around their goalie as Mineola won 2-0.

Despite beating their first place competition, the East Meadow Power, the Breakers still needed one more win to keep first place. With the Power still needing to make up a rain out game, Mineola needed to win to finish in first place. With threatening clouds and a cold, damp wind blowing at Wilson Field, the Breakers faced a tough Levittown Zap team. As usual, the Breakers opened their game with an aggressiveness and first to the ball attitude. However, Levittown was very much up to the task of playing shoulder to shoulder with Mineola. With non-stop action on the field for a full 30 minutes, each team had a number of scoring opportunities. Mineola finally opened the scoring on an unusual play. Sweeper Alexa Vojvodic, taking the corner kick, saw her shot hit the shoulder of a turning defenseman and bounce into the goal. That goal put Mineola ahead at the half 1-0. Mineola opened the scoring in the second half again on a corner kick by Alexa, which bounced in front of the goal and was tapped in by Kalie Medlock. Mineola never looked back as they won going away 2-0.

With this win, the Breakers finished their season with 7 wins, 0 losses and 2 ties for a total of 23 points. The offense scored a total of 18 goals with Marissa Peralta leading the way with six goals. Following closely behind were Kalie Medlock with three goals, Megan McCune, Dana Klein and Alexa Vojvodic with two each, and Ryann Pitcavage, Mary Henry and Catherine Hoban with one goal each. Playing behind the scenes, setting up shots and cutting off their opponents passes were midfielders Emily Kain, and Maryann Sanderleaf. The defense, consisting of Kristen Flynn, Lauren Olsen, Muireann "Mo" Phelan and Alexa Vojvodic, along with goalies Emily Glenn and Stephanie Cutrona, allowed only three goals this season, while shutting out their opponents seven times. Congratulations to all the girls and their coaches for an exciting and rewarding season.