Massapequa Stars win the Eastern New York U-19 Girls State Open Cup title

(ENYYSA / Randy Vogt) – Morgan Santoro, who plays for Central Connecticut State University, scored a hat trick to pace the Massapequa Stars to an emphatic 5-0 win over the Brentwood/Farmingdale Freedom on June 13 at the Peter Collins Soccer Park in Plainview in a final between two Long Island Junior Soccer League (LIJSL) teams. Amanda Garriti, from Marist College, and Erica Modena, of Manhattan College, completed the scoring for Massapequa.

As Girls-Under-19 champs, Massapequa wins the new Barbara Rodriguez Cup. Barbara is a Hall of Fame inductee of both the LIJSL and Eastern New York who volunteered as Chairperson of the State Cup for 23 years, from 1992 to 2014.

“We had a lot of injuries, as did Brentwood/Farmingdale, and we won today because of our high fitness level,” explained Massapequa coach Michael Bernieri. “Our keeper was hurt so we used a fill-in keeper, Tori Antonino, who was amazing in goal.”

The new champs received a $2,000 check from the Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA) to defray their costs during the National Championship Series. They will be playing in the Regionals from June 26 to 30in Barboursville, West Virginia.

Massapequa also received the Howard Rubenstein Sportsmanship Award for the Fair Play they demonstrated on the field. Now retired, Mr. Rubenstein was seemingly involved in every facet of New York soccer for decades and is a member of the Halls of Fame of Eastern New York, the US Amateur Soccer Association and the Long Island Junior Soccer League.