June 15, 2005

Queens, NY - This past weekend, St. John's University women's soccer head coach Ian Stone led the Eastern New York South Under-16 girls team to the 2005 US Youth Soccer Region I Championship. The tournament, played at Rider University in Lawrenceville, NJ from June 10-12, consisted of 16 teams mostly from the Northeast region, ranging down to Virginia, but also included a team from Europe.

The team, consisting of the best Under-16 players from Long Island and the five New York City boroughs, swept through pool play on Friday and Saturday, with victories over Virginia (2-0), ODP Europe (8-0) and Maryland (2-1) to advance to the championship bracket on Sunday. In the semifinals, Eastern New York South and Eastern Pennsylvania battled to a 2-2 tie after regulation and two overtime periods in the immense heat, with Stone's group prevailing 5-4 in penalty kicks. The team would move on to face Pennsylvania West in the finals, shutting them out, 3-0.

Earlier this year in mid-March, the same team won the 2005 US Youth Soccer ODP National Championship in the Under-15 division, having won the Region I title a year ago. The team has now won 14 straight games in ODP play in their respective age group.

Stone, who has coached in the Olympic Development Program for the last five years, has won three Region I Championships with his first coming in 2001, before winning his last two. Each year his teams have advanced to at least the semifinals bracket.