Soccer Games in Honor of Slain Dix Hills Teen Raise $17,000

The Third Annual  raised about $17,000 earlier this month.

About 300 fans and friends of Scarparti came out to root on 28 teams, made up of more than 300 players from around Long Island.

The tournament was created to memorialize the local teen, who was an avid soccer player and member of the Hills East varsity team. In July 2009, a drunken motorcyclist veered off of the road, struck and killed Scarpati, who was changing a flat bicycle tire on the Wantagh Bike Path, which runs adjacent to the Wantagh Parkway. The drunk driver was convicted of his crimes this past October, and sentenced to between three and nine years in prison.

The tournament, serves to benefit the Miles for Matt Foundation, a non-profit organization created in Matt’s memory by the Scarpati family.

Money raised from this year's tournament will go toward the Foundation's pledge goal of $25,000 to be given to Sunrise Day Camp, a summer program dedicated to children with cancer. The camp will be naming a soccer field in Matt's honor later this year.

The tournament also helps to support the Long Island chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) and scholarships for University of Buffalo and Half Hollow Hills HS East in Matt's name.