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Health & Fitness

Syosset Soccer Ready to Compete for Charity

Syosset and Jericho are set to play on June 15th at 7 PM to raise money for the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America.

Zach Antell has always had his heart heavily invested in Crohn’s disease. Antell, a senior and member of the Nassau “AA” champion Syosset Varsity soccer team, suffers from Crohn’s on a regular basis. 

“I first was diagnosed with Crohn's disease at the age of 12 after losing an extreme amount of weight to a terrible virus,” said Antell. “Learning of this and understanding I would have to deal with it for the rest of my life is a hard thing to deal with at such a young age. But, since then, I have fought hard to be as healthy as possible and have dealt with it in a mature manner.” 

Antell is among the 700,000 Americans who have been diagnosed with this illness that affects many different parts of a person’s stomach, such as the colon and the gastrointestinal tract.

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One of Antell’s teammates, senior and Princeton bound goalie Josh Haberman, thought of an idea to combine two of the things that mean the world to Antell: Soccer and Charity. 

Haberman set out to arrange a game between Syosset and Jericho to benefit the CCFA (Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America), and feels that the charity game is a great way to bring the Syosset team back together while also supporting a cause very close to their hearts. 

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“It would mean a great amount to me if we can get a tremendous amount of people there,” said Haberman. “Talks about a game between us and Jericho have been spoken about for a while and to finally get us both on the pitch at the same time is awesome.”

Syosset and Jericho for years have always argued who was the best team in the area. The Jayhawks have won back-to-back state championships in conference “A,” while the Braves are coming off their first county championship since the 1998 season. Jericho has always argued that they are the better team, based on the state championships that have won, while Syosset disputes Jericho’s dominance by using their lower conference as the reason for their success. 

“I feel that I was a major contributor into making our soccer season as successful as it was,” said Haberman. “To get the team back together for a charity that means so much to me is an amazing accomplishment.” 

For the last time as a team, the defending Nassau “AA” champions will take the field, but this time it will be for a different cause. 

“I have done different kinds of things to raise money for the foundation before, but I believe that this game will be the most successful event yet.” said Antell. 

The game will be played on Saturday, June 15th at 7:00 at the Robins Lane Turf Field in front of Lifetime Fitness in Syosset. Tickets are $5 and all proceeds will go to the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America.


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