The Comox Valley U14 Vipers lost last year's Island Cup to Gordon Head 1-0. Despite some glorious chances in the second half, fate wasn't on their side that day. It was one of the highlights of the year because it was two great teams battling it out.
This year the Vipers faced Gordon Head once again in the final. The coaches could see in the practices and the talk afterwards that the boys were looking for redemption.
The game took place May 7 at Beckwith Park in Victoria. From the opening whistle the boys' passion was evident as they started off strong. Their passing and possession game was on as the distribution from Nicholas Xylinas and Nick Chang in the midfield out to the flanks was spot on.
Whether the ball was distributed out to the right for Travis Brown and Cole Freeman to work their magic or out to the left for Derek Mellish and Dhruval Shah to utilize their speed it was all Vipers. With either wing linking up with Grayson Chalifoux in the middle on the crosses that were being whipped in the box, it took a loose ball for Shah to strike a shot that was deflected off a defender with 10 minutes left in the first half for a 1-0 lead. Moments later Travis took the ball towards the box and shot a ball that clanged off the crossbar.
Starting the second half was a slightly different looking Vipers team as play seemed to even out, with Gordon Head starting to win some of the battles. With the Victoria side putting more pressure on the Vipers it was time to ensure the defensive part of the game was solid.
The extraordinary play defensively and hard work in the midfield from Ben Watson and Alex Stevens was crucial in breaking up attacks through the middle third. Any penetrating balls from Gordon Head were clinically cleaned up by the back three of Ben Gastis, Riley McEachnie and William Blouin-Comeau who were being organized by outstanding communication from keeper Michael Girard, who didn't receive a lot of work throughout the game.
In the final minutes the Vipers almost went up by two as Grayson made a penetrating run with a clever through ball from Mellish esulting in a semi-breakaway with Grayson sending the ball wide of the far post. Moments later the final whistle blew, signifying a little revenge for the Viper players.
Missing from the team due to injury were Joshua Dielmann, Nathaniel Johnson and Dylan Coburn. Next up is provincials in July in Penticton.
– Vipers soccer