Year In Review: Sayville Boys Soccer in Sports on DiscoverSayville.com

Sayville soccer fans had a feeling early on in the 2007 season that this could be a special year for their team. Just the way the players moved the ball down the field, their composure under pressure and unselfish manner of play coupled with superior individual skills and sheer athleticism made everyone think that this just could be the year that the boys' program would reach new heights.

A perennial contender for the top spot in their league, Coach Val J. Winter's team were the Suffolk County Champions in 2001 but fell in penalty kicks to a talented Jericho team in the L.I. Championship game. Although their journey on the "Road to Oneonta" ended a bit earlier than planned that year, the dream of playing in the NY State Championship tournament had remained very much alive in the program and this year, the players were finally successful in making that dream a reality.

After winning the League V title, Sayville needed a shootout to get past John Glenn at Diamond in the Pines for the Class A Suffolk County Championship and then beat Great Neck North 3-2 at Hofstra for the Long Island Championship. The team then headed upstate to the Soccer Hall of Fame fields in Oneonta where they faced Westchester powerhouse, Byram Hills, in the semi-final game of the New York State Tournament. In a hard fought, back-and-forth contest the Sayville boys lost by the close score of 2-1 to the team that eventually was crowned NY State Class "A" champions.

Despite the loss, the boys had taken the Sayville Boys' program to new heights. It was the first time that Savyille had ever won the L.I. Championship and earned the trip upstate to the NY State Tournament. When asked what set this year's team apart from others that he has coached, 13 year veteran Coach Val Winter replied "Total unselfishness. They all bought into the 'team concept' and always put the team goals ahead of personal goals. We also had 14 players who could have started for any other team in our league but they never complained that not all of them started every game." Coach Winter also pointed to the skill of the team. "We had 14 very skilled 'starters.' We were a team that played great defense and we attacked with 11 players which put pressure on teams that most were not able to handle. As an example, one of our backs, Dan Mellynchuk, scored 4 goals while playing an outside back position." Chemistry seemed to be a contributing factor to the team's success as Coach Winter mentioned that "8 of them play on the same very successful travel team that won a national premier team tournament this summer and at least half of the team has played together in some form or another since they were 5 or 6 years old." Honored to have an experienced Bob Schimpf by his side as Assistant Coach, Mr. Winter looked back to the Fall of 2007 saying "When I think of this season, I simply think of Bob and I being lucky participants on this great ride the team took us on. Only 20 teams out of 754 high school teams in NYS got this far."

Congratulations to the Sayville Boys Soccer 2007 Class "A" L.I. Championship team. Sayville is very proud of you and your accomplishments!

Honors
2007 Long Island Class "A" Champions
2007 Suffolk County Class "A" Champions
2007 League V Champions
2007 Suffolk County Section-XI - League V Sportsmanship Award Winners
Suffolk County Small School "Coach of the Year" Val Winter, Sayville High School

All-Region Selection
New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania & Delaware
Craig Santangelo

All-State Selections
New York
2nd Team: Craig Santangelo
4th Team: Will Slevin

Academic All-County Selections
Suffolk County P.A.L. Academic All-County Team
Evan Martel

Suffolk County Small School "Player of the Year"
Craig Santangelo

All-Suffolk County Soccer Team
Chris…