The New Hyde Park Leopards became the LIJSL Nassau County Division 1 champions by beating the New Hota Bavarian Academy team 3-2 in the last match of the season on Saturday, June 11.
The game was played under a continuous light drizzle but the conditions did not affect the Leopards’ level of play. The boys played a crisp game and controlled the tempo throughout the match with their relentless ball hawking.
By an opposing parent’s account, they won every 50-50 ball in the first half, which led to a 2-0 halftime lead and the Leopards keeper not having to make one save.
Sean O’Connor opened the scoring around the seven-minute mark by beautifully one-timing a nice pass from Nick Tagios.
Thomas Mangin added the second goal with a breakaway on the left side, enabled by a classic speed dribble after beating the right defender with nifty footwork after receiving a well-placed pass from Sean Kerwin.
The goalkeeper came off his line to stop the attack but Mangin unloaded a left-footed shot through his legs which seemed to catch him by surprise.
New Hyde Park then took a 3-0 lead after Joe Judge was tripped from behind during a left-side counter-attack resulting in a direct kick that Mangin buried in the back of the net.
The Hota goalkeeper was under siege and came up with some terrific saves on real good shots from Ryan Moon, Nick Tagios, and John Tagios.
Ryan O’Sullivan and Chris Carbone helped keep the pressure up front on the left and right wings respectively. Their crosses into the box created several good scoring chances that resulted in near-misses.
As always, the Leopards’ stalwart defense and fearless goaltending from Evan Bandini enabled the victory.
Dylan Figueroa, “Tasos” Diacovasilis, Ryan Moon, and John Tagios held strong and thwarted almost every attack but one from the determined Hota players.
They finally broke through with five minutes left to avoid the shutout and followed a minute later with a fluke goal after a high clearing kick from just behind the midfield line which took a funky high bounce and snuck in just under the crossbar.
The Leopards apparently felt the coaches needed a little nerve-wracking finish to end the season.
Thanks to all the parents for your support and spirited encouragement of our boys week in and week out.
Congratulations to the boys on a terrific season! Winning the ultra-competitive Division 1 championship is something to be very proud of. It is nice when all that hard work pays off.
