The Auburndale Dragons traveled to Massapequa over the Memorial Day weekend to play in that town’s annual soccer extravaganza, which was held in five different facilities, with over 200 teams participating in the different age groups. It was a round robin format consisting of two four-team brackets, with the winner of each bracket to meet in the final.
The Dragons first opponents Saturday morning were the Massapequa Thunder who took the lead midway through the opening half and controlled the game the rest of the half. The Dragons slowly, but surely, got more into it as the second half wore on and Gina Giraldi attempted what could only be desribed as a speculative effort from 20 yards out that somehow managed to squirm from the keepers grasp and into the back of the net for the equalizer.
Three minutes later the Dragons took the lead when Danielle Magnozzi knocked in a second. With only seconds remaining, the Massapequa center forward broke through the Dragons defense and bore down on goal. Katie McPhillips who replaced Celeste in goal for the second half, came darting out and made an incredible stop to preserve the lead. Moments later the ref blew the final whistle.
In the second match against New Hyde Park, Katie opened the scoring in the sixth minute followed by two goals from Sabrina Blaskovic, which cemented the 3-0 win.
On Sunday, the Dragons faced the Brooklyn Patriots, who also won both of their matches on Saturday against the same two teams the Dragons had defeated. Danielle gave the Dragons an early lead, but the Patriots equalized five minutes later. The Dragons dominated the second half, but there was no further scoring and the Dragons advanced to the final on a tie-breaker
Huntington United girls won the other group quite convincingly and would met the Dragons in the final.
Danielle put the Dragons in front and that score held up in the opening half thanks to the terrific defensive work of Deanna Lucci, Kristen Pulley and Celeste Trevellini, as well as Amberly Cabral and Ali Crocitto. Erin McKenna and Samantha Ubertini never stopped working in whatever position they took up.
Fifteen minutes into the second half, Huntington leveled and with extra time and possibly penalties looming, the Dragons suffered a cruel blow two minutes from full time when Huntington scored the winner on a breakaway.
The Avengers won the U-11 girls division and the U-10 boys were runner up in the elite division.
