Eagles Headed to National Soccer Tourney in Florida

The Tarrytown Eagles American Youth Soccer Organization girls under-14 squad will be competing in the AYSO Nationals, July 4-11, at the West Palm Beach International Polo Club in Wellington, Fla.

The members of the team will have their close friend Lucas Goldbaum, a 14-year-old Sleepy Hollow resident who died May 13 of brain cancer, on its mind.

The team actually named itself the Eagles in honor of him because, before he passed away, he told them that he would like to come back to earth as an Eagle.

"He lived much more than the doctors expected," Eagles coach Hossein Fassa said. "He was a brave young man. It was a big deal for the team. The girls knew him very well. That's why they named the team Eagles."

The fact that his squad would do that for Goldbaum is one reason why this is a special group of people, according to Fassa.

"They are a great bunch of kids," Fassa said. "The passing of Lucas affected the community as a whole and for kids that age who were friends with him that is a pretty hard thing to go through."

As the players have had to go through the tragedy of losing a friend way too young, they have been practicing diligently during their preparation for the nationals.

The Eagles have spent the last couple of months gradually increasing their practice schedule, going from three practices a week to four practices a week to five.

Fassa said that adding practices has paid off because he has seen an improvement in the team's play since the additional practices.

"Some of the girls have also come to a morning practice in addition to an evening practice this week," Fassa said. "They have been working hard. We have played some games too so we are prepared when we go down there to play. We've had fun watching the World Cup as well."

The girls have to work hard because Fassa said that the team's conditioning has to be in top shape to play in Florida's summer heat.

Fassa said that the team will be playing two games a day so it's imperative for them to have plenty of water in their system before they even get on the plane.

"Starting last Monday, we had the girls makes sure they drink eight bottles of water each day," Fassa said. "You can't just drink water when you are down there, you have to get your body ready and start drinking water before you play in that type of weather."

As one could imagine, playing in the nationals means that the Eagles will be going against the best of the best, but Fassa is confident that is squad is up to the challenge.

"They got quite a battle in front of them but these girls tend to step up when they face tough teams," Fassa said. "One good thing about this group is that they don't give up, they just keep going."