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Community Corner

Remembering Those Lost on 9/11: R. Mastrocinque Avenue

A befitting tribute to a beloved Kings Park Soccer Club coach.

Many Kings Parkers have driven by R. Mastrocinque Avenue over the last nine years and probably don’t even know it. 

It might be easy to miss; it’s just one green sign on the corner of St. Johnsland at the north entrance of the Nissequogue River State Park.   However, unlike other 9/11 victims, the street bearing Rudy Mastrocinque’s name is not the street on which he was born nor lived, it’s the street outside of Tiffany Soccer Field.  

A befitting tribute for the former Kings Park Soccer Club President and coach, it was his love of the game and coaching that brought him to his World Trade offices of Marsh & McLennan  early on that fateful morning.   His main concern that day was getting back to Kings Park in time to run a goalie clinic for the club.   

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The community and his fellow club members have not forgotten his devotion.  In addition to the Town of Smithtown dedicating a street in his name, The Kings Park Soccer Club also created a memorial in his honor on the soccer field.   

Mastrocinque was the married father of two children, Amy and Peter whose teams he also coached.  Today Amy is 25, is an educator and high school cheerleading coach on Long Island.  Peter is 21 and a Senior at N.Y.U., he plays on a soccer league in Brooklyn.    Every year the sounds of thousands of children enjoying the game of soccer can be heard on R. Mastrocinque Avenue.

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