Paying Dividends

When we first endowed the Sergio Villanueva Scholarship at Hofstra University, we knew that we would have an impact on the lives of many young men and women. We hoped that these young men and women would exhibit the work ethic and dedication that was a hallmark of Sergio’s life.  2008 scholarship recipient Tiffany Yovino, as well as the whole Hofstra Women’s Soccer team, has exceeded our expectations this year.  17 straight wins, a regular season conference championship, and a national ranking of 17th in the country only tell part of the story.  This group of young women, most from our area, have heard me talk the past 4 years on a variety of subjects including this years theme of overcoming hardships. 

The 2010 Womens Team has not faced many obstacles in 2010  but when challenged, they have stepped up.  Tiffany, while only 5 ft tall, has stood tall, and was named CAA player of the year for her outstanding play.  Coach Riddiough was honored with CAA coach of the year.

The ladies know their season will not be complete without an NCAA tourney bid and hopefully a long run in the tournament.  While a bid is not guaranteed, it would be hard to deny the women a bid this year.  A conference championship this weekend might give them the opportunity to even host first and second round games.

An article in today’s New York Times highlights their accomplishments:

www.nytimes.com/2010/11/05/sports/soccer/05hofstra.html

CAA tournament play starts today at 4;30 with JMU vs George Mason, followed by Hofstra playing Georgia State at 7.

Winners will meet Sunday at noon.  All games played at Hofstra University Soccer Stadium.

All of us at the foundation are extremely proud of the entire Hofstra University Women’s Soccer program and wish you luck the next few weekends

This entry was posted on Friday, November 5th, 2010 at 7:15 am and is filed under Personal Stories, Scholarship Recipients. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.