The 2005 Mineola High School varsity soccer team may have the first Long Island championship in the history of the school's soccer program, but the season has meant much more for a group of young men who learned lessons such as camaraderie and the resiliency to never give up. These traits may sound like a cliché, but in the case of this team, they tell a story of a dream season that has brought Mustang pride to Mineola.

Perhaps defenseman Nick Tonini summed up the Mustangs best when he said, "We weren't a regular team. We were a family. We played as a family. We did everything together."

That family's proud papa, Coach Paul Pereira, had a simple expectation for the team in the summer - he wanted to be playing soccer in November. "That means we had to win our first playoff game," said the beaming coach. "My reasonable goal at the beginning of the year was to make it into the second round. I never imagined we would go this far. I guess I didn't clarify how late in November."

Pereira has been coaching long enough to know that teams come and go. Players go onto college and other endeavors but he is also quite sure that the bond these students have formed over a course of three months will last a lifetime.

"It was a dream and now it's real," said senior George Costa.

Although Pereira may have believed the Mustangs could play into November, Costa, who scored the game-winning goal in the Long Island championship against Shoreham-Wading River, predicted the Mustangs would play for the Long Island title. "I was the one who said it and nobody wanted to believe me," he said. "I had a feeling we were going to be a great team and we would be able to work with each other."

The Mustangs' run to the Long Island championship will be remembered as one that brought the school community together as staff members, students and alumni united to root the Mustangs to victory. But it will also be remembered as a season in which a group of young men showed that a fighting spirit pays off. This was most evident in the L.I. championship game, when the Mustangs came back from a 1-0 deficit with a tying goal by junior captain Mike Marques.

There was also a game against Valley Stream South in which the Mustangs were down 2-0 and came back to win 3-2. Garden City was up 1-0 and Westbury was up 2-0 and the Mustangs came back to win those games.

When Marques was asked if there was any lesson he learned over the course of the season, he said, "Never quit."

For the Mustangs, there was no sense of entitlement. It was a blue collar team with players from different backgrounds who paid no attention to cliques and groups that often find their way into the lives of high school students.

Why did a team with a goal to win one playoff game suddenly find themselves Long Island champions? Some players say it was the sense of family the team had, a sense of chemistry common in all championship teams.

"I look at them as a family. We have some amazing individuals. Usually, that can be a recipe for disaster," said Pereira. "It didn't matter if you were a reserve player or an All-State player or an All-County player."

That family includes a member from El Salvador, members from Portugual, members from Brazil, a member from Paraguay, a member from Columbia, an Irish-American, a German-American, an Italian-American. In fact, the Mustangs became a perfect model for people from different walks of life working together toward a common goal. Kids who never thought they would be friends at the beginning of the season ended up being friends, Pereira observed.

"We all did it together," said Costa.

"It's going to be one experience I had with these guys that I'll never forget," said Marques.

Senior Oswaldo Hernandez is one player that embodies the team. He came to the United States from El Salvador three years ago without his parents. In addition to going to school and playing soccer, Hernandez also works two jobs.

Hernandez played the end of the season with a bad knee for the good of the team. He credits his teammates for helping him get acclimated to life in the United States. "Soccer brought me so many friends," he said. "We had fun. We were a real family. We took care of each other."

Now that the Mustangs are Long Island champions, the players feel there is nothing they cannot accomplish. To put into perspective just how special the Mustangs' season was, the team defeated the number one seed, the number three seed, the number five seed and the Suffolk County number seven seed. The teams Mineola defeated - Great Neck North, Garden City, Lawrence and South Side in Rockville Centre - may have come from more affluent areas than Mineola, but one of the lessons the Mustangs learned was that it's hard work that matters and sticking together that matters, not where you live.

"We're a blue collar team and that's why I think people identified with us," Pereira said. "They are hardworking kids; kids who had to work for everything they've gotten. They didn't have anything handed to them. I think that's what made this team special for me."

Although the Mustangs are made up of team-oriented players, they have their share of talent. Senior Gustavo Dias, who was named All-State, saw the team come together. "During practices, we would see a lot of people who normally don't talk to each other, messing around. We listened to each other more in practice," he said.

As the star of the team, Dias may have felt pressure but he handled it with the maturity common in leaders. "There were times I would have a lot of pressure on me. But then there were times I would just be relaxed and just try to play my game," he said.

For now, the Mustangs will enjoy the rest of the school year as the team's seniors will be graduating as soon as the frost of the winter gives way to the freshness of spring. For now, they are looking forward to having their trophies displayed in the hallway. But years from now, their victory may take on an even greater meaning.

"I said to them, 'you guys are going to graduate high school and go to college. You are going to get married. You're going to have children. You're going to experience highs and lows in your life, but 50 years from now, nobody will ever be able to take this away from you,'" said Pereira.

"This was an unbelievable season that we will remember for the rest of our lives," said Costa.