Coach Joe Lee Honored by LIJSL
Women's Soccer Coach Wins Sportsmanship Triple Crown

Story provided courtesy of the LIJSL

Patchogue, NY – The Long Island Junior Soccer League Convention from March 5 to 7 is America's largest soccer convention. 15,000 soccer fanatics are once again expected to flock to the Hilton Long Island on Route 110 in Melville to take in all the fun.

The LIJSL Convention kicks off on Friday night, March 5 at 8 pm with the Volunteer Awards Dinner. Fox & Friends star (and former Massapequa Celtic) Brian Kilmeade will be the Master of Ceremonies as each club's Volunteer of the Year will be honored by the league. Also being honored is longtime coach
Joe Lee of Holbrook, who has coached LIJSL squads to 10 state championships, 2 regional titles and the Sachem Tomahawks to the 1987 national championship.

In 2003, Joe accomplished what no LIJSL coach has ever done by winning a Triple Crown of Sportsmanship awards. While leading the St. Joseph's College (Patchogue) women to their best record ever, 11-8-0, Joe also won Sportsmanship awards from the New York Metro Intercollegiate Soccer
Officials Association and the Skyline Conference. Joe's league squad, the Girls Under 19 Sachem Angels, took the LIJSL Sportsmanship Award last year as well.

"This man is a gentleman and he inspires his players," commented LIJSL referee Joe Danbusky.

Joe's volunteering for the LIJSL began back in 1976, when the Waverly Avenue Soccer Complex was being built in Holtsville. Joe helped put up and painted the goalposts of the now landmark facility just east of LIE Exit 62.

Joe became a coach in the Sachem Youth Soccer League and had a great deal of success with the Sachem Tomahawks. The Tomahawks were so good that the LIJSL asked them to play up a year after going undefeated for
three seasons. This was back in the mid-1980's so Sachem became one of the first American youth teams to play in an older age group.

Standout players included Cathy Cambria, Janine Caruso and Vicki Siderenko. Caitlyn Connolly, Melissa Galletta and Shannon Keenan later played for the Long Island Lady Riders while midfielder/defender Karen Ferguson competed for W-League rivals Boston Renegades and the Connecticut Lady Wolves. Karen now coaches the University of Louisville
women's program which makes sense since Joe said that "she was always a coach on the field anyway." The Tomahawks are now all in their early 30s although Joe distinctly remembers milestone moments in their young lives
such as First Communions.

Joe then took the controls of the HBC Nasty Girls, playing up from their inception. Standout players included Courtney Schaeffer and Maria Yatrakis, who have played in goal for the Lady Riders, and Beth Totman, who competes for the Boston Renegades.

Just as Karen Ferguson was the field general for Sachem, Sue Bird held the same role for HBC until deciding to concentrate on basketball. Not a bad move as the UConn grad plays for the WNBA's Seattle Storm and is being touted as becoming an even bigger female sports icon than Mia Hamm.

So why has Joe had all this success? "Perhaps because I spend a lot of time on fundamentals. Basics, over and over again," he commented, "I never promised any kid anything other than I'll match them in effort."

Joe mentioned that he loved watching the Boston Celtics of the 1960's since they always executed the basics well. And just as with Joe Lee-coached teams, the Celtics' grasp of fundamentals led to championships.

You can reach our friend at 631-472-0699.

The Long Island Junior Soccer League is the world¹s largest soccer league with 1,475 travel teams on Long Island and in Queens. There are nearly 100,000 in this area registered to play organized soccer when including the intramural leagues that feed the LIJSL plus men¹s and women¹s leagues filled
with our graduates. The LIJSL is a non-profit organization run by volunteers determined to make a difference by Building Character Through Soccer. In 1998, the league received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Nassau County Sports Commission.

Current LIJSL sponsors are Bankers Life of New York (an AmerUs company), Kwik-Goal, Modell¹s Sporting Goods, Nike, North Fork Bank, TOPSoccer and Waldbaum¹s Supermarkets.

The LIJSL's official website is http://www.lijsoccer.com/, which averages 600,000 hits per month.

For more information on the St. Joseph's College Athletic Program, contact Frank Flandina, Sports Information Director, at (631) 447–3352 or