JFK girls’ soccer turns night match into fundraiser

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Carly Schneider, a coach of the girls’ JV team, said she was pleased by how the game “brought a lot of people together,” including the older and younger Kennedy girls.

Francine Priore was one of a handful of parents who stood at a table set up behind the announcer’s booth during the game’s first half helping to sell an array of pastries and raffle tickets. The raffle prizes were mainly gift cards for food or services that local restaurants and other vendors donated. Priore thanked her fellow team parents and their daughters for helping with the event’s logistics and for soliciting donations from the local community.

A handful of girls on Plainedge’s team also wore pink ribbons to show solidarity with Kennedy’s fundraising efforts. On the field, Plainedge bested Kennedy 2-1, with the winning goal coming from Plainedge’s Courtney Tibaldi in the game’s final two minutes. It was a competitive match that saw the first half end without a goal from either team and then Kennedy trailing 1-0 in the second half. Priore’s daughter, Franki, a senior, tied the game for Kennedy on a free kick from 25 yards, but it would not be enough after Plainedge scored again to close out the game.

Bizelia said the next day that the Kennedy girls never found their “flow” the previous night, but she underscored the night’s larger success in uniting people against a terrible disease.

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