Manhattan Paris Saint-Germain’s 5-1 win gives them Boys Under-17 State Open Cup Title

A famous line from Casablanca, “We’ll always have Paris,” is appropriate for the State Open Cup finals as Manhattan Paris Saint-Germain of the Westchester Youth Soccer League (WYSL) has played in the last five championship games.

But the other “usual suspect,” Smithtown Arsenal of the Long Island Junior Soccer League (LIJSL), did not make the final this year. Play can be very competitive in the Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA) as Smithtown, defending national champions who played last winter on ESPN, were eliminated in first round group play by the Massapequa Celtics. Massapequa was in turn eliminated in the quarterfinals by the WYSL’s Ramapo Valley Tornados, who faced Manhattan in the final.

Amara Sesay scored two goals with Sean Fitzgerald, Sebastian Goicochea and Mamoud Keita all adding one as Manhattan coasted to a 5-1 win to give them the Boys-Under-17 State Open Cup on June 1 at Stringham Park in LaGrange.

“I think that the most talented team won as we dominated from the beginning of the game,” commented Manhattan coach Wilson Egidio. “We dealt with their long throw-ins and corner kicks well as Ramapo Valley has a lot of tall players.”

Manhattan will play in the Regionals from June 26 to July 1 in Kingston, Rhode Island.

Ramapo Valley received the Howard Rubenstein Sportsmanship Award as selected by the match officials. 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 LIJSL.