Vestal, N.Y. - 17 sectional titles, 10 Southern Tier Athletic Conference championships, 19 years later and Bill Stepanovsky is ready to take a break.

The Vestal native expressed that he will be stepping down as Vestal girl's soccer head coach and has passed the torch down to Gina Baldwin, who played for Stepanovsky at Union-Endicott from 2006-2009.

"Every year I kept saying one more year one more year" said Stepanovsky. "We had a good crew last year and I told myself I would leave with them. Every year there is always somebody you want to stay for but then I said wait a second, I need to put a stop to this sooner or later."

Baldwin coached the Golden Bear Junior Varsity team the past two seasons and Stepanovsky will replace Baldwin as the JV coach.

"It will only be for one year." said Stepanovsky. Expressing he wants to show Baldwin the ropes and help her in any way possible during her first season as Vestal's varsity head coach.

Stepanovsky, a Vestal soccer alum, was part of the 1969 Vestal boy's soccer team who became the first Vestal boys team to go undefeated and win sectionals.

The past 19 years consisted of coaching Union-Endicott girl's soccer team for 11 years and leading Vestal to 8 consecutive sectional titles.

"The biggest thrill in my last 19 years of coaching was being four minutes away from winning a state title when I coached Union-Endicott in 2006. We lost in overtime. But that was a Cinderella team. No one expected us to get there."

Although the numbers speak for themselves, Stepanovsky took pride in the people he coached rather than the players who scored goals.

"I will miss just the times with the kids. That's the bottom line. Teaching and all the laughter. Watching them grow, not just as players but as individuals."

Although Stepanovsky won't be seen on the sidelines coaching the varsity team he will certainly still be around. He will continue to be a soccer referee, a basketball official and a girl's lacrosse official. He'll also continue to be Section IV's coordinator for girls soccer.