Two Eastern New York ODP teams win Regionals, qualify For Nationals

(ENYYSA – Randy Vogt) – The Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA) has announced that two of the state association’s Olympic Development Program (ODP) teams won Regionals. Both teams will be playing for the ODP National Championship next winter.

“We are very excited that two teams are going to Nationals but also that we had a very high standard of play throughout the two tournaments,” commented Eastern New York’s ODP Chairperson Jim Volpe. “All our teams used the same formation, a 4-3-3, and emphasized possession and building from the back.”

During the first round at Rider College in Lawrenceville, New Jersey on June 6 and 7 and the semifinals and finals in Kirkwood, Delaware on June 20 and 21, both the 1999 ODP Boys South team and 2000 ODP Girls South team went 5-0-0 to win the Regionals. The 1999 Boys South team is coached by Ralph Pascarella, assisted by Graham Radcliffe, while the 2000 Girls South squad is coached by Jaime Gonzalez, Brooke DeRosa and Gary Book.

Additionally, the 2000 ODP Boys South team finished 3-2-0, losing in the Regional finals to Virginia, 3-0, and the 1998 ODP Boys South team finished 2-2-0, losing in the semifinals to Massachusetts, 4-3. With such a large geographic area to cover from Long Island to the Canadian border, Eastern New York’s ODP teams are split and 10 ODP teams from the South and nine ODP teams from the North entered the competition at Rider College.

Each year, players are evaluated by the ODP professional staff of coaches for a position on each age-specific team. The identification process ends each summer with the most elite players within Region 1 competing for a position on the regional team. Players are then identified by United States Soccer Federation (USSF) staff coaches for possible entry to the national teams program.