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"Somewhere behind the athlete you've become and the hours of practice and
the coaches who have pushed you is a little girl who fell in love with the game and never looked back....
Play for her."
Mia Hamm
Stars are #1 in New York State!
Disney markets their Soccer Showcase as the “Proving Ground”, the ultimate place for top clubs to be seen by hundreds of college coaches looking for great soccer talent. The Stars traveled to Orlando last week with the opportunity to continue the momentum they had gathered from the 4 previous Showcases they had participated in over the last 2 ½ months. In those 4 Tournaments, the Stars placed in 1st, 2nd or 3rd place in each one against some real stiff competition. And based on the number of points they received for their 3rd place finish this past weekend at Disney, they are now ranked #1 in NY. This is a significant achievement for this team, coming back from a season last year that fell short of expectations. The team underwent some minor changes in personnel and has started to play more consistent soccer over the last several months. While they have not won every match they have played, you can see the marked improvement in communication and level of play. Fitness has improved and the team is scoring more goals.
So it should come as no surprise that the Stars would be competitive at this Tournament as well. The Stars would continue to face formidable competition from across the country as they would play the #5 ranked team from Florida, an unranked team from Canada and the # 3 ranked team from Connecticut. Each of the first two matches was scheduled for 9am starts and the Stars are notoriously slow starters so it was no surprise that they were down early in both of these matches. On Saturday the Stars gave up a goal on a corner kick to put them down 1-0 in the second half before coming back to tie it. As time was winding down, Shelby would get her head on a cross that she managed to get over the keeper but hit the top half of the cross bar and bounce out. Although they only managed the tie, the Stars did play a complete game and were just a few inches away from winning the match altogether. More importantly they played in front of 9 college coaches of which 7 were from D1 programs.
The second match was played at the beautiful ESPN Wide World of Sports complex within the Disney property. This matchup would be against an unranked Burlington Tornadoes team from Canada who entered this match not giving up a goal since May, a 7-month stretch. There was quite a crowd that was building to watch this match up and the total number of coaches in attendance finished at 36. Once again the Stars would go down 1-0 against a very strong team but this time the Stars would battle back to take a lead after scoring two goals just before the end of the 1st half. The Stars managed to hold on to the lead for most of the second half before the Tornadoes of Burlington, Canada scored the equalizer with about 5 minutes left. With about 3 minutes left, the Tornadoes took the lead and as the time was winding down, the Canadians would knock in one more garbage goal to finish with a 4-2 win. Again, although the Stars finished with a loss, they did showcase their ability well in front of the coaches. They moved the ball well, scored two goals against a defense that was virtually impossible to score against and despite the score actually defended well for most of the match. The Canadian team was strong and in the end just did enough to earn the win.
The final bracket match would be against the Yankee United from Connecticut on Monday afternoon. This time the Stars would be the first to score as Erica would score her first of 3 goals she would score in the match. In the second half, the Yankee United team would score to tie the match 1-1 but that tie would be short-lived as the Stars continued to pressure the defense of the Connecticut squad until they finally broke free with Erica’s second goal. After a take down in the box created a PK opportunity that Erica would cash in on with time winding down to give her a hat trick, the Stars would win 3-1, securing 2nd place in the bracket and earning a spot in the Consolation game on Tuesday morning. As the Fairfield University head coach walked away at the end of the match he commented that the Stars were a good team and fun to watch. What a great compliment to recieve from a D1 Coach.
The Stars would win that match convincingly against the 2nd ranked team in Utah and State Cup Finalist La Roca FC Premier. They would take a 2-0 lead at halftime and would finish with a 4-2 win, earning them 3rd place overall in the Flight. The finish also earned them 1081 points which allowed them to leapfrog over both World Class and East Meadow to claim the #1 ranking For New York State, #20 in the region and #45 in the country. Congratulations and Go Stars!
Stars accepted into Region 1 Premier League!
Region 1 has sent out their acceptance letters for the upcoming Premier Season and one was earmarked for the Massapequa Stars. The Stars were accepted 2 years ago and while they played competitively, they did not win enough matches to stay in the League the following season. Last season the Stars played in the Northeast Regional Premier League, going undefeated until the last weekend when they suffered their only loss of the season at the hands of the Alleycats from Albany. The Stars would finish in 2nd place which opened up the opportunity to be accepted into Region 1 Premier League this year. When you combine that with the success the Stars have achieved over the last couple of months, this recognition is very well deserved.
Go Stars!
Stars cap run with trophy
One of the biggest challenges the Stars faced coming into the Showcase season was the fact that while they were all playing school ball separately, they had not had a chance to face real competition together as a team. Add in the addition of two new players in Keri and Erica and the return of Courtney and Shelby, it was difficult to gauge how long it would take for the team to gel together. The plan all along was to work at getting it together for the Disney Tournament at the end of December but it did not take long for this team to get it going and what a ride it has been.
The Showcase schedule got started with WAGS in October, where the Stars would win their bracket with a 2 win, 1 loss performance. They outscored the competition 8 goals for to 0 goals against while playing Loudoun 95 Black and FC Bucks Elite. The Stars would drop the final match 2-0 to Hibernian AA Fusion but by then had already been guaranteed to win the bracket. Luck would have it that the Stars would have the opportunity to seek some revenge later at another tournament.
The next Showcase event was held in North Carolina. The Stars would participate in the CASL College Showcase the weekend before Thanksgiving. This was a tournament that was well attended by College Coaches and would ultimately provide the team and coaching staff with some areas that needed to be addressed before Disney. The Stars played hard and held leads in all three matches in this Tournament but gave up the leads in both of the first two matches and would finish with 1 win and 2 draws. The Stars were hurt by late goals given up in those two matches and would need to address that area moving forward. This tournament also proved to be a great team bonding event as the team travelled out to Duke University to visit the campus and ultimately had a chance to watch the Duke Women’s Soccer Team advance to the NCAA Tournament Quarter Finals by coming back from a 0-1 deficit to beat Ohio State 2-1.
The Stars needed to practice and focus on making the adjustments quickly since the following weekend they would play in the NEWSS Showcase. They would be facing some tough competition in this tournament as all three teams in their bracket were ranked higher than the Stars. They would beat a Matchfit team ranked 21st in the nation, 2-1. They would get some sweet revenge against Hibernian and crush them 4-1. The final match in the bracket would be against the CFC Arsenal who was ranked #1 in Connecticut and #32 in the nation. The Stars would complete the sweep of the bracket winning 1-0. In the Championship, the Stars would face a tough opponent in the CFC United ECNL team, keeping it close for most of the match until giving up two late goals to lose 4-2. A great showing by the team and a marked improvement from just a week ago at CASL. Great turnout by College Coaches as well as the Stars played excellent soccer over the two days of this tournament.
With a week off for practice, the Stars entered into the Massapequa Winter Showcase on a high despite the loss in the Championship at NEWSS. This would be a home tournament for the Stars who would get off to a slow start against a tenacious Brentwood Thundercats as they eked out a 3-2 win. After that match, the Stars would not give up another goal beating Dix Hills in the second match 2-0. On Sunday the Stars would face the winner of the other bracket, Northport and beat them 2-0 as well. This win would place the Stars in the Championship for the second tournament in a row. This time they would face a tough battle against the ISA Sting 95. It was a tightly contested battle between the teams as the Stars would finally break through in the second half, scoring off of a corner kick to give them the ultimate 1-0 win and the Championship.
This has been a great run by this Stars team that should continue into the Disney Invitational in just a couple of weeks.
....NEVER LET A WIN GET TO YOUR HEAD, OR A LOSS TO YOUR HEART....BY Erica Modena
In loving memory of our Coach, Mentor and Friend. You will be in our hearts forever.
Angelo Modena
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