The Mineola Portuguese Soccer Club recently defeated the No. 1 ranked New York Pancyprians-Freedoms 5-3 to win the state amateur champion in 30 years and will now head to Pennsylvannia for the national finals tournament.
The last time the Mineola Portuguese Soccer Club won the Eastern New York State Soccer Association’s Manning Cup was in 1981, when coach Jack DaFonte led the club to its last state championship.
In 2011 it was his son, Marco Dafonte, who along with team captain and vice president George Spanos and vice president Gabriel Marques, sought redemption for a state finals loss in 2009 against the 2010 national amateur champions.
The game opened with Spanos leading by example, after making the score 1-0 early with a perfect penalty kick after the Pancyprians handled the ball in their own end.
Later in the first half, striker Shane Arikian buried two laser shots to bring the score to 3-0 at the half. With nothing but winning on their minds, the Pancyprians attacked heavily to open the second half, taking shot after shot at the Mineola goal.
MIdway through the second half, Mineola would again score after a shallow angle shot by forward Andrew Herman. With their keeper now playing almost to mid field in a heavy push forward, the Pancyprians were able to score three consecutive goals in the final 15 minutes to bring the score to 4-3. But their strategy would prove fatal in the last five minutes as a defensive clear for the Mineola Portuguese leaped over the head of the opposing goalkeeper at midfield and was quickly snatched up and booted by Herman for the fifth and final goal.
Watching his son lift the Manning Cup after the game brought tears to Jack DaFonte’s eyes as his son had now followed in his footsteps, winning the most prestigious amateur soccer championship in the state.
Spanos, who enjoyed the victory with his brother Frank (also on the team) was speechless after hoisting the trophy, saying that winning the cup was great, but winning it against the best team in the state made it “special.”
After the game, ENYSSA president Sal Rappaglia announced that he, inspired by the level of play of the Mineola Portuguese Soccer Club, had decided to send the team to the national championships in Lancaster, PA on behalf of the association, called the George F. Donnelly Cup, to be played on July 10. George Spanos gladly accepted on behalf of the team.
Returing to Mineola only hours later, the team was swarmed with cheering Portuguese at the Mineola fair who erupted in cheer after the cup was presented to the community. The team was congratulated in person by state Sen. Jack Martins, Village of Mineola Mayor Scott Strauss, Trustees Paul Pereira and George Durham, and received phone calls from Nassau County Comptroller George Maragos and Nassau County Legislator Richard Nicolello.
The Mineola Portuguese Soccer Club is an amateur adult soccer club that was founded in 1936, officially registering with the Long Island Soccer-Futebol League in 1948. The Mineola Portuguese Soccer Club has developed over a dozen professional players and won more than 100 soccer tournaments and events, including four New York State Championships (1966, ’81,’85, ‘11) in its 75-year history.
