Congratulations to the Floral Park Thunderbirds. This past Fathers Day (June 20^th), the Thunderbirds competed in the finals at the Waldbaum’s Cup held at the Three Village Soccer Club on the Stonybrook University Campus. The Waldbaum’s Cup is the world’s largest single elimination tournament, where over 1,500 travel teams compete for a chance to win the Championship for all of Long Island.

Most athletes go through life never getting an opportunity play in a Championship Game at any level. The Thunderbirds played like champions throughout the entire tournament. Pictured above are from left to right are: kneeling: Connor Sullivan, Chris Loumeau, Luke de Armas, David Patalano, Mark Streiber, Luke Calo, Joseph McKie, and Daniel Neuscheler; standing: Colin Williams, Lorenzo Arrindell, Michael Meegan, Michael Goga, Logan Buckley, and Logan Kenneally.

The Thunderbirds, a group of fine young men entering 6^th grade in the fall, coached by Keith Neuscheler, Ken Streiber, and Adrian de Armas, most of whom have been playing soccer together since 3^rd grade, were fired up for every Waldbaums’ game this Season. In the opening round, the Plainview Old Bethpage Thunder were no match for the mighty Thunderbirds falling by a score of 5-1. Then on to Carle Place for the Quarter Finals, where the T-Birds took a 4-0 lead over the Carle Place Thunder, only to have to batten down the hatches as the Thunder stormed back bringing the final score to 4-2. The Semifinals brought our Division rival, the Valley Stream Tornadoes, to Floral Park, where the Thunderbirds took an early 2-0 lead, only to have the Tornadoes twist back to within 1 goal; the T-Birds held strong despite the ref making us play 37 minutes in the second half.

On to the Finals where the Floral Park Thunderbirds were set to play the Uniondale All-Stars, a formidable opponent as they mowed down their competition 5-0, 4-0, and 4-0, in their respective Waldbaum’s Cup games. Mark Streiber started off the scoring, giving the T-Birds a 1-0 lead. Luke Calo netted another one, however Uniondale led 3-2 at halftime. In the second half, Mark Streiber put another ball in the back of the net to tie it at three, only to have the Allstars get one right back to take a 4-3 lead. Luke de Armas then scorched a top right shelf direct kick that the Uniondale keeper never had a chance on to tie the score at 4-all.  The Floral Park Thunderbirds now had all the momentum and had several scoring chances that just missed, resulting in a 4-4 tie at the end of regulation. If there is a tie at the end of regulation, the teams have to play two Golden Goal “Sudden Death” Overtime periods. The first overtime started, with the Thunderbirds maintaining momentum and keeping the pressure on the Allstars, only to be saved by the game being stopped by Thunderstorms. There was a 40 minute delay which gave the Uniondale Allstars time to regroup. Unfortunately, once play began Uniondale was able to net the game winner on a freakish rebound. Luke Calo, Colin Williams, Michael Meegan, Logan Kenneally and Michael Goga were tireless on the attack, keeping the ball in deep and blasting several shots that just missed the net. They kept the Uniondale defense on their toes the entire game with constant pressure in the offensive zone. Lorenzo Arrindell, Connor Sullivan, Mark Streiber, and Luke de Armas were ironmen running up and down the field playing both offense and defense. They dominated play throughout the game and maintained constant pressure in Uniondale’s end of the field. And now for the defense, as you can’t win in soccer without a great defense. Chris Loumeau, Logan Buckley, Dan Neuscheler, and Joseph McKie thwarted most of the Allstars attacks in our end. They provided a wall of defense that was almost impossible to penetrate. And when the Allstars were able to muster up a shot on goal, our keeper David Patalano, made save after save and immediately set us off on offense with a quick outlet pass or a bomb over midfield.

Coaches Neuscheler, Streiber, and de Armas were very proud of the effort the boys gave that day, and could not have asked for a better Father’s day present when they handed out the medals to the entire team, one of very few that made it to the Finals game. The Thunderbirds are already looking forward to soaring again next year. Go Thunderbirds.