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Light Rain and Breezy Rockville Centre watches the big game
Millions of people around the country watched the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team dominate the Japanese 5-2 on July 5, and Rockville Centre was no exception.
TVs all over the village were tuned in, joining the more than 20 million people across the country and making the final the most-watched soccer game in US television history. It was also one of the biggest sporting events in the last few months, easily beating out the NBA finals and the Stanley Cup finals.
“It was amazing that in 16 minutes, it was pretty much over,” said Judy Croutier, former South Side High School girls soccer coach, referring to the four goals the U.S. team scored in the first minutes of the game. “It’s never really over, but it was pretty much over.”
“It was a great win by the U.S. women’s team,” said Jim Belling, the travel chairman on the Board of Directors of the Soccer Club. “They’re one of the stronger teams in the world, ranked No. 2 this year. So I guess it was not much of a surprise. But we lost to Japan four years ago, so to be able to play them again and win was great.”
It’s no secret that Rockville Centre is a big soccer town. The girls team at South Side regularly dominates, and about 1,500 kids play in the Rockville Centre Soccer Club. It has been around for years, and has become an institution in the village.
“I played for it growing up,” Croutier said. “Then my kids played, and now I’m on the board.”
More than just giving people an event to watch, the women’s national team has inspired many of the girls that play soccer, both at the high school and for the Soccer Club.
“They certainly know the star players,” said Belling, who also coaches his daughter’s u14 travel team. “They spend time in practice pretending to be so-and-so. Our goalie wants to be Hope Solo. I think it gives them very positive role models to aspire to. They’re all women who finished college and then took the next step.”
Rockville Centre has turned out fantastic soccer players. Many have gone on to play the sport at the college level. And local star Crystal Dunn has played for many national teams, and was a member of the team that won the U-20 World Cup in Japan in 2012. She’s been called-up to the senior national team, but wasn’t one of the players during the World Cup.
“I think it will motivate the players, especially the girls, to want to get better,” said Kevin Bohn, president of the Soccer Club.
Bohn and others said they expect the success of the national team to cause an increase in the number of girls who sign up for the club’s next season, which begins in late August.
“They definitely look up to [the players],” said Croutier, who coached for the Soccer club. “The last World Cup, the girls who are now going to be juniors in high school, they met Abby Wambach and some of [the other team members] on the Today Show. They definitely look up to them.”
