It was an auspicious debut for the New Hyde Park BU13 Stormcats Saturday morning for a great day of soccer at Ft. Totten.
Undeterred by traffic delays, uneven field conditions or the grass inches deep all over the place, the Stormcats hung together and came up with a win against a fine Auburndale team.
The teams played a scoreless first half with help from outstanding goal tending by Luke Notine. New Hyde Park threatened often, winning many loose balls and playing much of the time in the offensive end.
The Stormcats were adversity hit in the second half when goalkeeper Brendan Cooper had to leave the field after being shaken up in the goal crease. Jack Kareff stepped in and made a couple of saves while the boys kept up the offensive pressure. Their perseverance finally paid off when Dino Vidaich knocked home a loose ball in front of the net for a 1-0 NHP lead.
With Brendan back in goal, the team protected the lead with outstanding defense provided by James Gensch, Ryan Wasserman, L.J. Tsiforas and Luke Notine. The boys also had several good offensive chances to extend the lead with shots on goal by Colin Coope, Christopher Ribaric, Dean Caldwell and Joseph Vieni.
Auburndale did create a couple of chances and with just a few minutes left nearly got the equalizer. However, the defense held and NHP put the game away as Dean Caldwell, who came back from his own injury, scored off a breakaway and an amazing second effort on the last play to make it a 2-0 final.
Contributions came from up and down the team lineup. Ryan, James and Jack were stalwarts on defense. LJ was flying on the wing and had several scoring chances and the combination of Luke, Brendan – who also played some strong midfield – and Jack combined for the team shutout.
All in all, it was a great start to the season for the Stormcats.
Cheetahs Play Hard
The New Hyde Park GU13 Cheetahs played very well Saturday. They girls took many shots on goal and made nice passes and the one trick corner worked well.
Coach Gabe is proud of the athletes’ level of play and encourages the girls to keep up the hard work and team play. Great job Cheetahs!
