2 Massapequa Grads to Be Inducted into Soccer Hall of Fame

Two soccer players from Massapequa will be inducted into the Long Island Soccer Hall of Fame this weekend.

Former Massapequa Chiefs Emily Pickering and Alan Bodenstein will be honored along with several others in a ceremony Saturday at the Huntington Hilton.

While at Massapequa High School, Pickering was named the High School Female Athlete of the Year, a McDonald’s High School All-American, and was a four-time Empire State Game Gold Medalist.

Pickering moved on to win four National NCAA Championships at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and was a three-time All-American player. Her career has been full of firsts, including her time as the first captain of the original United States Women’s National Team of America. She was also the first American soccer player to play professionally in Europe, serving on Italy’s Juventus Feminile team.

Bodenstein is a graduate of Hofstra University. Like many of the other inductees, he played indoor soccer for most of his career as the sport had few professional outdoor facilities in his generation.

Drafted in 1979 by the New York Arrows, he went on to play for the New York Express, Fort Wayne Flames, New York Kick, and Dayton Dynamo. He was also a member of the US Pan American and US Maccabiah teams for more than a decade.

Bodenstein was not the only one in his family to make a career out of the sport. His parents, Gene and Fay, own the famed Massapequa Soccer Shop.

Also being inducted are Michael Windischmann, Tommy Lang, and Eddie Cody.

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