Spring Season Recap for Sleepy Hollow Football Club

The spring season of the Westchester Youth Soccer League has drawn to a close and SHFC is pleased with the performance of its teams. Five SHFC teams have won their respective division championships.

The Legends accomplished a first in SHFC history by winning the top division in their age group and thus holding the honor of top U13 (under the age of 13) travel team for Westchester County. Twenty-nine teams have won their division in SHFC history but only the Legends have won the top division. The Legends ran away with Division 1 going 8-1-1 and leading the league in scoring and defense.

Other division winners from SHFC include the Red Lions (boys under age 9), the River Sharks (boys under age 10), the Dutchmen and the Dynamo (boys under age 11).

The dedicated players, volunteer coaches and supportive families all contribute to the success and cohesion of the Sleepy Hollow Football Club. Here are recaps of all SHFC boys and girls soccer team play:

2009 Boys Red Lions finished a (near) perfect season with a hard-fought 3-1 win over Greenburgh United. Sami Quezada, Guigo Dias and Ralfy Rodriguez netted goals for the Lions. Dexter Scheller and Hanover Gottlock were superb on defense. Coaches Brad Scheller and Nuno Andrade are very proud of the Red Lions in their first year in WYSL and plan to move the team up a division for next 2018/2019 season. Stay tuned for more great soccer from these youngsters!

2009 Girls Red Fury coached by Katie McMahon played against the LMFC White Rockets. The score is not available.

2008 Girls Red Comets coached by Sven Armster and Joe Block won their last game of the season 2-1 against Greenburgh at an away game in the blazing heat.

Ava Dominguez whose play jumped to a new level over the last half of the season led the team to victory scoring the first goal of the game. When Greenburgh tied 1-1 shortly after, the Red Comets answered. Ava driving down the right side crossed perfectly to Corina Armster who delivered the go ahead goal. After that, the defense stayed strong and held Greenburgh scoreless the remainder of the game. The Red Comets finished 7-3 in division 3 of U10 girls.

2008 Boys Fusion hosted the Riverdale Thunder for its final game of the season. Goals from Jack Zhunio, Edwin Dutan, Kieran Degen and Sean Mackiewicz helped Fusion close out their season with a win, finishing with a record of 5-3-1.

Coaches George Papadopoulos and Ken Mackiewicz were proud of the team’s first year playing together. After an undefeated fall season, Fusion moved up a few divisions to more competitive play this spring. With the addition of two new teammates, Fusion is excited to see how their play develops further this coming fall.

2008 Boys River Sharks coached by Ed Greenberg, Gerardo Soto and Michael Glynn traveled to Katonah to take on FC Somers Crusaders. After a tough struggle the River Sharks came out on top 4-2 to finish the season with a 9-1 record and clinch their division. It has been a team effort throughout the season with great goalkeeping from Thaddeus Kromelis and Joshua Ortiz, sterling defending from Luca Dominguez, Henry Warden, Timmy Engelman and Jack Uyaguari. The defense was assisted by the midfield of Gilbert Onwe, Nathan Barreto, Keaton Greenberg and Alesandro Soto in front of them. On offense were Eoghan Glynn, Abraham Achkar, Jayden Perez and Dhary Suqui.

2007 Girls Blaze

In the final week of the Spring season, the Blaze, coached by John Sutherland and Chris Junge, were named Westchester Cup Champions and battled the Castleford Lions for an inspiring 3-3 tie.

The Westchester Cup finals were played at SUNY Purchase where the Blaze defeated rivals Eastchester Red Dragons in a 2-0 finish. Sunday’s final season game was a rally as the Blaze played their best and most exciting game of the season to come back from a 3-1 deficit, score two goals in the final 10 minutes for a 3-3 tie with the Castleford Lions. It’s been a great Spring season and the the girls have grown stronger, developed higher level skills and have become a formidable team.

Many thanks to John, Chris and the Blaze girls who have worked so hard including: Emily Aridas, Julissa Casiano, Gabby Disney, Gemma Fante, Ellie Fox, Cassie Junge, Juliana Marvin, Kayla McGuigan, Penny McVey, Lizzie Molina, Zoey Murphy, and Meghan O’Hanlon. We look forward to seeing what these girls can do when they return in the Fall.

2007 Boys Dynamo coached by Howard Allen won their division with a record of 8-2. On Saturday, they won against the Somers Grandioli 3-1 and on Sunday, they played to a 5-2 victory against the Scarsdale Lille.

2007 Boys Dutchmen coached by Gary Fairley, Howard Allen and Alberto Blanco won their division with an 8-1-1 record. On Saturday they shut out the White Plains Black 6-0 and on Sunday they shut out the Eastchester Titans 5-0.

2006 Girls Storm coached by Kevin Richardson and Tom Andruss shut out the Greenburgh United Cyclones 6-0 to close out their season at 4-3-3, in third place for their 8-team division.

2006 Boys Firebolts coached by Ricardo Gonzalez fell to the Mount Pleasant Red Wave 6-1 for a spring season record of 7-2-1 and second place in their division.

2006 Boys Warriors coached by Matt Weidner finished their season with a 5-3 win over the Mahopac Fury and an overall spring record of 3-7.

2005 Girls Cyclones coached by Mike Levine, Tracey Koch and Nick Tsibiles were awarded a forfeit, bringing their overall record for the spring season to 6-3-1 and third place in their 8-team division.

U13B Boys Legends finished the season at home to Castleford. The turf at WI was so hot that the boys were soaking their feet in water! The coaches clearly hadn’t done enough hot weather training and the team wilted a little, conceding two and being held scoreless by a fine defensive performance from Castleford. The boys and coaches are delighted with their season, going 8-1-1, wining Division 1, scoring 28 and conceding only 8. The team also had an exemplary disciplinary and sportsmanship record, with zero yellows or reds and a perfect sportsmanship score (all 9’s) for the season (congrats to parents and coaches also!). Even in losing the last game the boys showed their sportsmanship by bringing the referee to Main Street Sweets for ice-cream!

2005 Boys Red Devils played the last game of the season against the very strong, Mount Pleasant Strikers. The first half of the game was very close, with both teams driving forward, the defense on each side was tough to break through. With five minutes to go in the first half, Mount Pleasant scored a goal ending the first half one nothing.

Before starting the second half, Coach Francisco Mendieta arranged the team in a new formation including the subs. Goalie-C. Taylor, defense-L. Stanko, C. Morocho, L. Tenezaca, G. Barzallo, M. Soto, J. Rojas, midfield- J. Guzhnay, C. Panjon, M. Contreras, J. Robles, and the forwards-T. Molina, A. Smith, F. Mendieta. C. Panjon nailed the ball from about 30 yards away confusing the goalie to score the first goal for the Devils. Devils took over the game with F. Mendieta scoring the second goal which was assisted be T. Molina.

With ten minutes to go, J. Guzhnay dribbled towards the corner of the field then crossing the ball to the center where F. Mendieta was waiting to end the game with his second goal. Making the final score 3-1 in favor of the Devils.

2003 Girls Strikers coached by Matt Evans lost 6-0 to the division-winning Port Chester Stallions, bringing their spring season record to 4-6.

2004 Boys River Titans have been coached by Scott Burnett and Pepe Monteforte for a decade. Recent seasons saw the Titans battle from division five to their present position at division #2! Although the Titans began the season in last place four games in ... with a 9 team division. The Titans didn’t give up! Division 2 at U-14 is no joke. The Titans finished their division in third place. The Titans also played eight of their ten games down a player on the field!

Best wishes to the Titans, who graduate to High School Soccer next season. Go Titans!

2004 Boys Argentina coached by Luis Lewis closed out their season at 6-2-1 for third place of their 10-team division.

JV Boys Los Gauchos coached by Bill Julian and Luis Lewis won their final match 5-1 in in dominant fashion with over 600 passes again. In doing so, they claimed second place in their division. Los Gauchos led their spring division in goals scored, passes completed (4,665), and time of possession. Los Gauchos, who lost 9 players from the fall season, managed this feat with only 8 outfield players the entire spring. After winning multiple pre-season tournaments and twice champions in Futsal Winter league 2018, Los Gauchos went undefeated in WYSL Cup for Spring 2018.

Los Gauchos are captained by Mateo Lewis and David Amay. The squad is comprised of Mateo, Paul and Jhonatan in midfield, David and Larson in center back, Ethan and Dylan at fullback, and Steve at wing. Diego and Rene serve as goalkeepers. Special thanks to guest players Oliver M., Gabriel, Braulin, Alex, Eric and Oli T. For the 6th consecutive season, Mateo Lewis led the team in assists and completed passes. The team's leading goal scorer was Steve Tacuri, with additional scoring from Alex Gauman, Mateo Lewis and Jhonatan Yunga. Los Gauchos play quality, possession-based positional play.

Match Highlights are available at: https://youtu.be/CTAalRmWpjQ

The JV Mustangs coached by John Sutherland and Michael Weitzen finished their season in second place in the top division after avenging a 2-3 loss to Rye with a 2-0 win. This is on the heels of a last minute come from behind tie against the west side Red Bull’s that made this second place finish possible. Sunday’s win came in extreme heat with 6 players missing including 4 players that were starters on opening day. Ariana Vizcaino scored first off a pass from Sophia Khosrowshahi. Talia Fante put the game away late thanks to a Britany Alban assist. Keeper Maya Weitzen intercepted several Rye scoring opportunities and kept the clean sheet. Maya has stepped up most of the season filling in for injured two sport star Julia Costa. Defenders Lily Rodriguez, Annie Dineen, Emma Clarke, and Grace Ryan earned the shutout for the second ranked travel defense in Westchester county. Melanie Urgiles from the younger Strikers team agreed to play two games in the heat and gave the Mustangs their eleventh player for the match. Finishing in second place was an impressive accomplishment as the young ladies have overcome significant roster issues all season. They all learned multiple positions this season with 5 players asked to play out of their usual position just this Sunday.

As a junior varsity aged team, the Mustangs are proud of several of their players that are multi-sport athletes and often have game conflicts. The team has also managed injuries and employment conflicts while celebrating coming of age quinceaneras parties that last all night before games. They have players in religious school and the coaches have even had to memorize the Sunday church schedule. Most travel teams have strict commitment requirements but the Mustangs have encouraged their talented players to enjoy all the opportunities that come with growing up. This special squad of Mustang players has been together for seven years and has become well rounded special young ladies. These ladies will next see action in August when they travel to Hershey Pennsylvania to compete with other talented teams from around the country. Rumors have it that there may be some chocolate and an amusement park nearby.

Next fall the Mustangs will be a Varsity aged team and will not have a fall club season as the players will be involved with their own school’s varsity team. They plan to stay together for a possible November mini-season, winter indoor play, and spring 2019. The Mustangs are a founding member of SHFC and one of four teams competing in the top division. They have also represented the community twice at the AYSO national games in California and Florida. Finishing as the county’s second ranked travel team for both the spring and fall is great work by a fantastic squad.

Varsity Girls Comets coached by Seán Brosnan tied at 1 with the Shrub Oak United. They finished the season in second place of their division with a record of 5-2-3.

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