Tanner Kempe
Special to the Record
This past Sunday, a clash of soccer teams converged on Valley View field in Courtenay when the Upper Vancouver Island Riptide hosted Surrey Central City Breakers in a U14 boys Coastal Cup quarter-final match.
During the first half, the game went back and forth, nobody could tell yet who was going to win, with only a few shots on the two keepers. In the second half, Surrey put a beautiful shot past the Riptide keeper with only 10 minutes to go.
But the scoring wasn’t over. The Riptide don’t go down without a fight. With two minutes left, Tanner Kempe put the ball into the net from a cross – game tied!
That was the turning point in the game. The crowd was screaming, the cowbells were ringing and it felt amazing!
The referee’s whistle brought regulation time to a close and we had to go into overtime. The first 10-minute half was a draw without many chances for either team. In the second half the Riptide’s energy was stronger, leading to Nicholas Mitchell’s beautiful shot from outside the 18-yard box. GOOOAAALLLLLLL! The roars of the crowd were deafening – that was it! With a 2-1 win, Riptide are on the way to the Coastal Cup semifinals against Richmond, the #2-ranked team in the Lower Mainland Metro Select League.
That game will be played at home this Sunday with game time tentatively set for 2 p.m. at Valley View #1.
Tanner Kempe is a midfielder with the UVI Riptide.