East Alum Yovino Ends Playing Career at Hofstra

It didn't take Simon Riddiough long to realize that Tiffany Yovino was a special soccer player. 

The Hofstra University women's soccer coach saw the Holtsville native play for the first time when he coached her on the Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association's Olympic Development Program team as a teenager seven years ago. 

"The biggest thing about Tiffany is that she's a winner," he recently said. "She is technically gifted. She's strong. She's fast. Those things are easy to see. 

"The ability to do things for the team. She showed these things very early. She had an unselfish attitude. She didn't care what she did as long as we won." 

Well, Hofstra won all right, thanks in part to the Sachem East graduate. The Pride women finished with arguably its best season -- a 19-3 mark, a school-record 18 consecutive wins and its second NCAA Division I tournament appearance in four years. 

While Yovino might not have cared about individual accolades, she acquitted herself quite well, scoring a team-high 12 goals and being named a third team All-American by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America. She also was named Colonial Athletic Association Player of the Year. 

"The whole season was surreal," Yovino said. "It was incredible, a great feeling. . . . It was a fun senior year. We looked forward to practices. It was all about getting along on and off the field." 

Never considered a goal-scoring juggernaut, Yovino stepped up her game this season. 

"We've always challenged her to be more proactive in taking goal-scoring chances," Riddiough said. 

The 5-foot sparkplug started to find her groove and the back of the net in a consistent and timely fashion. Entering this season, she had accrued nine goals and six assists in her first three college seasons as an attacking and defensive midfielder. 

"I'm normally a player who takes 1,000 shots and hits the crossbar," Yovino said. "Luck normally doesn't go my way." 

But this season was different and luck, combined with skill, went her way. 

"I was able to stay up to the level I wanted to be," she added. 

During an amazing eight-game span, Yovino scored at least one goal a match, certainly not an easy feat in a low-scoring sport such as soccer. 

"To do it game-in-and game out, it was unbelievable," said Riddiough, whose team won all those games. 

"It was a shock to me," Yovino said. "It wasn't like I had to get another goal each game to keep it coming. I just wanted to help my team." 

Three games stood out. Yovino scored twice in a 3-2 victory over William & Mary, including the game-winner with 45 seconds left, and twice again in a 2-1 overtime win over Northeastern University. In Hofstra's 1-0 triumph in the opening round of the Division I tournament, Yovino also scored. Against Northeastern, Yovino scored the equalizer with six minutes remaining in regulation and the game-winner in the opening minute of the second overtime. 

"It was a great feeling because we were going into overtime," she said. "It wasn't one of my best days. I was struggling. It was great coming back from a 1-0 deficit scoring both goals on senior day." 

Yovino started playing soccer when she was five-years-old with the Sachem Youth Soccer League. She got interested while watching her older brother play in games. "I was always on the sidelines practicing," she said. 

Yovino also played lacrosse and basketball, but there was something special about soccer.

"It was never the same," she said. "No other women's sport was as physical as soccer." 

She joined an intramural team and graduated to travel soccer. She played with the Sachem Apaches for five years and they eventually merged with the East Meadow Magic, which was ranked in several national polls. Yovino said she was a utility player when she joined the Magic before team trainer Mark Alber wanted her to play at one position. 

"He was trying to get me to play central midfield and look where I am now," she said. 

Yovino was a three-year captain at Sachem East. As a senior, Yovino led the team to the New York semifinals with a 20-1 record with 14 goals and 13 assists. The University of Maryland, Villanova University and University of Delaware recruited Yovino, who decided to stay closer to home with Hofstra. 

A dual major in history and early childhood education, Yovino will graduate in May. Between her goal-scoring heroics on the field, Yovino found time to hit the books. She boasts a 3.74 grade-point average and was named a first-team ESPN CoSIDA Academic All-American this year. 

Yovino hasn't made up her mind yet on whether she will pursue a master's degree, apply for a teaching job or try to play professional soccer. As one of the top 33 women's players in the country, there is a good chance Yovino will selected in the Women's Professional Soccer draft next month. 

"She wants to be the best elementary school teacher out there," Riddiough said. "She's going to be a tremendous teacher." 

There is also amateur soccer with the Long Island Fury (Women's Premier Soccer League), for which Yovino played for the past two summers. 

"I'm still not completely sure," she said. "I would like to keep playing. In this [economic] environment, I'm probably not going to get a job soon." 

As for playing professionally, "right now it's in the back of my mind," she said.