Seven SHFC Teams Seize WYSL 2021 Spring Championships

What a great close to the Spring Season, as SHFC had 7 of the 22 teams named champions and several teams to be promoted in the Fall. Congratulations to those teams who earned their place as Westchester Youth Soccer League (WYSL) 2021 Spring Champions: Argentina, Red Legends, Blaze, Dutchman, Fusion, Bandits & Gators. We have several “firsts” across the Club: first varisity boys championship – congrats Argentina! First season champs – congrats Gators! And Blaze and Red Legends secured their 4th and 3rd championships respectively.

Across the club, we have new teams of young hopefuls, teams who continue to grow and teams that have played together for more than a decade.

We are proud of all of the SHFC players and look forward to seeing what their futures hold. The players will spend the summer enjoying some well-earned down time and preparing for the Fall Season.

Read on for the highlights of this final week of the Spring 2021 season.

For more information about SHFC, please visit http://www.sleepyhollowfc.com

SHFC Mustangs

On Sunday, June 20th, 2021 Sleepy Hollow Football Club’s GV Mustangs took the field for the last time, against their rivals the Dom Bosco Hawks.

This is the end of an era and a major milestone in Sleepy Hollow Football Clubs' history. For the past 10 years, Coaches John Sutherland and Mike Weitzen have been a constant in these young ladies’ lives.

In many ways, these gentlemen have been like a second father to all of the girls. And, with any child, there have been moments of joy, frustration, and shouting (we won’t say anything about a particular coach shouting at the refs) whether it be father and daughter or coach and players.

Coach John and Mike created the Mustangs during the inaugural year in the U9 Girls division and saw them all through to Girls Varsity. More importantly, as the Mustangs played their last game, there were still girls playing on the team that was part of the original U9 squad.

And during those 10 years, The Mustangs realized:

• Full registered and rostered players: 42
• Games: 279
• Wins: 156
• Ties: 38
• Losses: 85
• Approximately 200 regular-season practices
• Tournaments: 8 (Somers - 2, Wizard if Oss - 3, AYSO Nationals Tournament (CA & FL), and Hershey Soccer Tournament
• Championships: 4 in the Westchester Youth Soccer League 2014, 2015 (undefeated), 2018 Premier Division, and 2019 Premier.
• 8 seasons of Chelsea Pier CT indoor soccer

As the Mustangs grew, so did John and Mike, honing their coaching skills; and from those learnings comes the next generation of great (SHFC) women soccer players. Thus, while the Mustangs may no longer take the pitch, their spirit lives on in those girls' soccer teams that follow.

Oh, if you are wondering how they did against Don Bosco, they had a draw with a final score of 2-2.

Thank you, John and Mike, for all that you have done, and to the Ladies of the Mustangs, you will be missed.

SHFC Argentina

SHFC Argentina named WYSL Spring 2021 Champions. This is the first boys team in SHFC history to capture a Varsity title. This is the 5th WYSL title for combined Argentina/Los Gauchos to go along with a WYSL Premier title and 5 Futsal titles, including 2 prestigious Ophir Premier Futsal Winter League Titles.

Dedication and commitment was key to this title: Attendance was routinely nearly 100% every match.

SHFC Argentina Varsity. WYSL Spring 2021 Champions. Season Video:

https://youtu.be/J-w1KioLCVU

SHFC Blaze

The Blaze jumped on top 1 - 0 when Julissa Cassiano passed to Sammi Marvin and Sammi's perfect centering pass beyond the outstretched arms of the Cheetah goalie allowed Lizzie Molina to net the goal. Defensively solid throughout the first half, the Blaze defense of Julianna Marvin, Daisy Star, Gabby Disney and Zoey Murphy in front of Blaze goalie Emily Aridas kept the team's clean sheet intact, with the Blaze goalie coming out to successfully challenge several Cheetah shots on goal. Just before halftime, Blaze midfielder Bianca Lopez-Parnetti stole a ball and made a quick pass to Blaze striker Sammi Marvin. Sammi's pass backward to Julissa Cassiano alowed Juliana a clean shot on goal, which the Blaze forward used to earn her first goal of the game with a strong low kick to the corner of the net, doubling the Blaze lead to 2 - 0 before half time.

In the second half the Blaze kept the pressure on as 90% of the play was on the Cheetah's side of the field thanks to terrific midfield play from Corrina Armster and Cassie Jung who had at least 4 successful tackles each. In the 64th minute of the match, the Blaze front court worked well together as Gemma Fante and Bianca Lopez-Parneti both earned assists setting up Julissa Cassiano for her second goal of the game. Julissa's shot, into the high corner of the net past the leaping Cheetah goalie earned Julissa her brace, and the Blaze a 3 - 0 lead. The team's defense did the rest, not allowing a goal and by passing back to the goalie, did not allow a corner kick to the Cheetah's the entire game

The victory earned the Blaze a share of first place in the Premier Division. Coached by John Sutherland and Annette O'Hanlon, who are always assisted on the bench by Blaze player Kayla McGuigan who is recovering from an injury, are used to winning the Premier Division, having won the Division in the Spring of 2019 and the Fall of 2020. The team had 6 clean sheets on the season on their way to allowing the fewest goals allowed in the division this season. The Blaze became the first Sleepy Hollow Football Club team to earn 3 Premier Division Championships.

SHFC Dutchmen

The Dutchmen finished off their season this Sunday with a game that would determine if they finished in 1st place or 2nd place in their division. With grit and determination, the Dutchmen dominated and won the game,

3-0, against the Mahopac Mayhem, thus, taking over 1st place from Mahopac in B14 Division 1. It was a great team effort by all and a well-deserved division championship for the Dutchmen.

SHFC Fusion

FUSION, SHFC's 2008 boys team, finished their spring season at home with a 6-0 victory against Pelham to win their division.

In minute 10, Kieran Degen sent the ball to Josh Ortiz for the score. Pressure and an attempt by Eoghan Glynn would result in Luke Tonaj receiving the rebound for a successful strike to make it 2-0. Before the half, Ian Papadopoulos scored thanks to an assist from Aiden Lee. Minutes later Papadopoulos would feed the ball to Lee for his own goal. Attempts by Sean Mackiewicz, Sebastan Londono, Alessandro Soto and Jayden Perez were blocked by a busy Pelham keeper.

In the second half, the coaches challenged their team to only score via header, and Edwin Dutan and Luca Dominguez each answered the challenge with solid goals.

The Pelham team, who was short players, were no match for Fusion's style and level of play, even when Fusion reduced its number of players on the field to 8.

Goalies Jonathan Figueroa and Pierce Davis each blocked a few shots, but Fusion's defense succeeded in keeping Pelham at bay. Excellent play from Luca Simbana, Bruno Flores, Raul Socualaya, Dylan Largo and Shyam Manjanath were instrumental in keeping Fusion in control of possession.

Coaches Mackiewicz, Glynn and Degen were proud of the team's effort this year. Winning their age group's Division 3 last fall and Division 2 this spring, Fusion hopes to see Division 1 play in the coming fall.

SHFC Red Fury

In their final game of the season, the Red Fury faced off against the North Salem Fighting Tigers. This was the third time both teams played against each other this season. Coming into this game, the Red Fury was ranked #2 in their division and the Tigers were #1. What an exciting game this was!

It was clear from the start of the game that both sides would not hold back. The Red Fury's front line of Meghan McMahon, Sofia Cruz, and Lauren Monachelli, began to immediately attack the Tiger's goal. Great interceptions and ball possession by midfielders Brianne Rodriguez and Rachel Richardson fueled the attack. Defenders Sawara Ketkar, Kate Masters, and Maiyumi Marcus-Kanesaka disrupted the Tigers' attacks by intercepting, passing, and generally outplaying the Tigers. About 10 minutes into the first half, Brianne intercepted a pass by the Tigers' midfielder and threaded the needle with a sublime pass to Lauren on the right side. Lauren outran two opposing players and struck the ball from the 20-yard line to score a screamer. From that point, both sides pressed and defended nonstop. The Red Fury came close to scoring a second goal when Mia Gurreri, substituting for Brianne, took a shot on goal from a cross by Lauren but the ball hit the top bar and bounced away from the goal. Rose Ritz, playing goalie, ensured that the first half remained scoreless.

During the first 5 minutes of the second half, the Tigers were able to score two goals back-to-back by taking advantage of the confusion amongst the Red Fury players. However, the Red Fury found their groove and began their attack. Julia Maad, now playing front left began running the ball down the field and either shooting or crossing the ball. Rachel and Meadow Gurreri hunted the ball down in midfield and fed the attacking line. Defenders Natalie Coffman, Kate, and Grace McGovern did a great job protecting the goal. Since the Red Fury put tremendous pressure on the Tigers, they conceded a hand ball in their penalty box. Rachel took the shot to even the score. The Red Fury came close to scoring when Meghan passed to Rose who outran the defense and took a shot. Unfortunately, the ball went wide by inches. Some of the exciting plays in the second half came from the tremendous saves by Maiyumi now playing goalie. There were several plays that the Tigers were able to beat the Red Fury defenders and Maiyumi stopped their shots from going in. The Tigers best chance to win the game came late in the second half. A shot that Maiyumi blocked came loose and during the ensuing scramble, she caught their second shot by dropping her body on the ball.

The Red Fury remains #2 after this tied game. Due to their successful campaign this season, they will be moving up a division next year. A very special thank you to Coach Katie McMahon, who really brought the best out of these players.

SHFC All Reds

The Boys U10 All Reds took to their home field at WI for their last game of soccer for this squad. With teams merging and players moving, this core group of boys, who have been together for two-ish seasons, were taking the field one final time as a group. Facing off against Yorktown, who we easily dispatched earlier in the season, the boys in red came up a little short with a 2-3 loss. The coaches have spent much of the season taking the focus off of Ws and Ls and instead looking at how the team plays the beautiful game and some great soccer play was on display in the final game. The All Reds team, winless in their first season of travel soccer, compiled a total record for the 20/21 season of 11-7-2, showing incredible amounts of improvement in all facets of their game. Learning to work hard as a team and have fun as a team, this group is poised for growth as they move to the 9v9 game model for next season. Kudos to all the families and volunteers who make the club a safe place for all the kids to play and love this sport

SHFC Gators

The SHFC Gators traveled to Armonk to take on rival Castleford Sky on the final Sunday of the spring season. A win in this contest and the Gators would achieve two significant milestones…an undefeated season, and a division championship.

From the opening whistle it was clear that the Gators were focused on these goals, playing at an extremely high level from start to finish. Siena got the gators on the board early, cashing in on a perfectly placed corner kick from Oli. The Gators continued to pressure the Sky’s end of the pitch with a barrage of shots on goal. Ella P struck next, depositing a pass from Melody M into the back of the net. The gators took a 2-0 lead into the half.

Castleford cut the lead to 2-1 early in the second half. However, it was all Gators from this moment to the closing whistle, with the girls answering with an offensive onslaught that followers of this team have become accustomed to this season.

Siena broke past the defense on two separate occasions to score goals number 3 and 4 for the Gators. The girls continued to apply unrelenting pressure throughout the half. An opportunistic Ella took advantage of a loose ball in the box to make it 5-1. With about 5 minutes left in the game, Oli split the defense and scored to make it 6-1 Gators, which was the final score.

A huge congratulations to this truly special group of girls on winning the division championship in their first season in the league. Also, a heartfelt thank you to Coach Shiloh Mackey and John Sutherland for guiding this talented group on their journey.

The Gators will be recognized for their special season with a Division Championship Trophy Presentation this Friday afternoon at WI. Well Done Kaylee Carrigan, Celia Bell, Ellis Lattanzio, Evie Mackey, Gabriela Godinho, Maya Gatfield, Olivia Montolio, Maeve Geary, Ella Pietrosanti, Gabriella Variano, Melody Rodriguez, and Siena Spartaro! The community looks forward to watching you continue to achieve amazing things in the future!

SHFC Red Devils

The Red Devils finished their season with a solid 4-1 win against Pleasantville Galaxy on Sunday, with a full squad. Every teammate individually and collectively played their best soccer. The Devils' were in offensive mode for most of the game, with great leading passes and teamwork. The boys racked up their highest number of passes of the spring season. Asher Gaito's kick was unstoppable, scoring twice for the Red Devils. His first goal 5 minutes into the first half came from a free kick along the sideline, hitting high and strong into the back of the net. His second goal, scored during free play, followed a similarly spectacular arch. Ryan Mackiewicz and Max Muinos scored the other two goals in the second half, each from beautiful passes from Declan Kennedy.

Rodrigo Figueroa had several strong shots on goal, and Marco Robilotto and Henry Kromelis, were equally charged up at the net. David Alban and Johan Rodriguez kept play moving well through the mid-field, with great foot-work and tenacity. Dylan Feroe, JP Williamson, and Sebastian Espinoza were strong on defence, largely keeping Pleasantville out of scoring range, with a couple of sprints to chase down Pleasantville break-away's. Max and Dylan also stood strong in net, with just one goal against for the game. Congratulations to the Red Devils, including the deserving coaching staff of Antonio Muinos and Ken Mackiewicz, on the exciting win!