The Waldbaum's Cup is a soccer tournament that will be completed in the next two months throughout Long Island. In order for a team to win the tournament they must win all games. Most of the 21 OBEN travel teams are participating; here are some of the results of the first round played on Saturday March 15 and Sunday March 16:

The Oyster Bay Tornadoes Girls under the age of 13 advance to the next round in the Waldbaum Cup.

The girls hosted the East Islip Extreme at Vernon Middle School on Sunday afternoon, on March 16. With both teams advancing to division 2 from the fall season, they were both interested to see how they would do in the higher division. Both teams were equally matched and kept out of the penalty box on this rainy afternoon. With minutes left in the first half, Katie O'Brien put the ball in the net from a Melissa Albanese corner kick, however, the referee disallowed the goal indicating it was a hand ball.

At the half it was Tornadoes nothing, Extreme nothing. In the second half, Madison Fressle made some spectacular saves keeping the Extreme scoreless. Julia Cranz was having her usual solid performance on defense. Ten minutes left in the game, Melissa Albanese took a corner kick from the left side, found Marissa Matarese in the box who took a solid shot to the Extreme back of the net. Tornadoes go ahead by one goal.

Tornadoes switch to a defensive mode by replacing forwards for defensive players to hold the win.

The Tornadoes will be in the second round by facing the winner of the Massapequa vs. Lindenhurst game.

The Oyster Bay Mustangs U14 Boys soccer team started off the season with a bang. On a sunny March afternoon, the boys were ready when they took on the Babylon Panthers at Vernon School. The Mustangs scored first. It was Ricardo Contreras on a fast break - and Goalosso! The Panthers answered back a few minutes later, and the Mustangs went into halftime tied at 1-1. Both teams were thinking they might have to settle this in overtime or in a shoot-out after that (in a shoot-out each team takes five shots at the other's goalie in net to see who wins). But things got real interesting in the last 10 minutes of the game. Ricardo launched a beautiful cross to Jake Kerrigan who nailed it into the net. Again, the Panthers wouldn't quit and just minutes later they tied the score again 2-2. But in the final moments team captain Esequil Santabanez shot, Babylon's goalie caught but then fumbled the ball, and Ese got his own rebound. That's how you win a game! The Mustangs won 3-2!

But this was a real team win. All of the Mustangs showed the value of the winter games they played together, including Joey Bramble, Henry Canales, Jordan Contreras, Keyan Cody, Matt Maniscalco, Mike Pizzaro, Shane Reilly, Matt Rodriguez, Josh Ramos, Lucas Santoro, Jonathan Vega, Saveen Wijebandro, and Ryan Yogman. Cheers went up from their supporters, including the U14 Raptors who were about to take the field next. It was an exciting start to what will be a great season of soccer, sportsmanship and fun for team Mustang!

The OB Raptors U-14 soccer team won its first round Waldbaum's Cup game with a thrilling 1-0 win over the Oceanside Renegades. The Raptor defense of Rich Podpirka, Yorman (The Beast) Velasquez, Alex Petrillo, Joey Giunta and Peri Ipiotis consistently frustrated any attempt by the Renegades to mount an attack. Behind them was Alex Carchietta who went the distance in goal making several acrobatic saves including an amazing leap to punch a shot from point blank range over the cross bar. Oeanside was coming off an undefeated fall season and had no response for the teamwork of the Raptors whose only goal came from a header by Thomas Awad to Jonathan Ramirez who then headed the ball behind the defense. Willie Treiber then used his blazing speed to beat the defense to the ball juke the goalie and put the ball in the back of the net with under 10 minutes left on the clock. Sunday, March 16, at Plainedge -- Oyster Bay East Norwich Soccer Club's U15 Twisters beat the Plainedge Storm in the first round of the Walbaum's Cup 5-0. The game turned out to be an early season warm-up for the team which finished the fall 07 season with a 7-0-2 record and 23 points. The teams defense anchored by Andie Terzano, Cathern Flood and flanked by Leeanne Dillman and Sarah Moxley had a rather easy day of it. Catherine Flood also has a defender's dream converting a penalty kick. The midfield was strong and controlled the game with Mariah Cody, Samantha Romano, Emily Eisenberg and Melina M in the middle and wings lead by Jamie Leigh Catacasinos, Marina Heaney, June Ilowitz. The forwards had a good day led by Brie Ament, Michaela Lamberta and goalies Kristin and Andrea Zalin (who scored a second-half goal). Other scorers included Samantha Romano with 2 goals and Michaela Lamberta. The girls train hard and are looking to continue their winning ways as they progress through to the finals of the Walbaum's Cup and reach their goal of another first play finish in the regular season.

The Rockets (U13 boys), competed against the No. Babylon Strikers Sunday to a hard-fought 4-3 loss, despite playing without their starting sweeper, goalie and right wing(and no subs)!

Our last-minute goalie, Andrew Mortensen, filled in ably for never playing the position before.

The entire team pulled together to give the opposition a great game. We are anxiously looking forward to the first game of the season on March 30.

Team Endurance took the field Saturday, March 15, for their first Waldbaum's Cup Game of the spring season against The Commack Explosion. The Endurance girls played indoor soccer together all winter, so their teamwork was anything but rusty. Captains for the day and center midfielders Dominique Matarese and Jillian Tiberia led the battle. The OBEN girls passed the ball beautifully and had an excellent first shot at the goal by Catherine Sullivan. Lia Kakoulidis' footwork combined with the amazing hustle of Sonja Drabin and Rachel Wesley led to several other offensive strikes but the girls just could not find the net. Caileen O'Keefe and Sam Milano gave 100 percent effort. Nicole Hauser, Marisa Petrillo, Grace Wygand and Brooke Sommi's defense barely allowed the ball to cross the midfield the entire first half. Commack Explosion stayed true to their name in an intense one-on-one breakaway with a shot that just grazed the fingers of goal keeper, Brooke Stapleton. Although the score at the half was 1-0, the Endurance Girls never gave up. The second half the fight continued and, after a few impressive saves by goalie Olivia Ballone, Commack delivered one final Explosion - a breakaway and blistering unstoppable shot. The game ended as a 2-0 loss for the Endurance.

As the saying goes, "The score didn't reflect the game." Endurance dominated this game with excellent passing and hustle from every single player. They will be a force to reckon with this spring season. The first league game takes place in East Meadow on March 29.