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Big Apple Soccer Article
June 9, 2008
GIRLS U-12 STATE CUP
Massapequa Stars 2, East Islip Dragons 1
La Grange, N.Y. -- Winning a State Cup championship can be an emotional experience for most youth soccer teams.
For the Massapequa Stars, those emotions were intensified by the fact the team dedicated the Girls Open Cup title to its late coach Angelo Modena, who passed away last year from a blood disorder.
The Stars won the Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association's Girls Under-12 crown, defeating the East Islip Dragons, 2-1, at Stringham Park on Saturday, May 31.
Coach Michael Bernieri talked about Modena in his speech during the medal ceremony.
"It was a long trip to get here and we had to face several obstacles from the get-go when we started the State Cup run," Bernieri said, who added that he was impressed on "how the girls stayed focused."
"They lost a coach, which is tough for U-10-11-year-old girls at the time. They continued to work hard and stuck together. The parents and kids stuck together as a unit."
Team trainer Gregg Satzinger took over as coach before Bernieri, who was coach of the club's B team, became the Stars coach this year.
At Stringham, Amanda Garrity scored for the Stars in the opening minute, pouncing on a rebound of a save by the East Islip goalkeeper, and Erica Modena, the daughter of Angelo Modena, connected on what proved to be the winning goal in the second half.
"The girls worked hard from the get-go," Bernieri said. "The game plan was to high pressure on the ball. The first 15 minutes was total domination. The entire second half the girls played their hearts out. The ball was in their half for most of the game."
The Stars are playing up a year at the U-13 division in the Long Island Junior Soccer League, and there's a good reason for that.
"One of our things with our girls is that we are kind of slight in build," Bernieri said. "One of our ideas was to play up to face bigger and better competition and make our girls tougher. It has worked well for us.
"They're playing stronger and they're playing harder. They're not getting knocked down as much, especially when they go out of state and they play teams that have much larger girls than them."
Bernieri has been most impressed with the Stars' work ethic.
"They have great work ethic," he said. "They work really hard and they're focused on soccer on and off the field. We really have a great group and a real great trainer who has been with this group for three years."
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