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The 4th Annual Ryan Krug Vashon Cup, hosted by the Vashon Island Soccer Club, was played on Saturday Dec 12th, 2015, at VES field, Saturday 10 AM, with a full FIFA recommended 4 referee crew.

The VISC U19 Riptide Coached by Oli Christopherson took on the Vashon Mens Team (wearing Flounders FC jerseys, and coached by Bob Hennessey) for the trophy this year.

It was an absolutely sodden, miserably cold day to play, and the crowd was sparse, but the game was great from start to finish. There were some solid, even crunching tackles in the midfield, with boys and men giving as good as they were getting, and keeping the referees busy. This match started as a friendly, but a stinging tackle will often take that right out of a match, and it was a good thing we had a four-referee crew on the field. Jamie O’Neil scored the first goal of the match for the men off a Don Amick assist.

After the Vashon men took this early lead the Riptide put together a number of significant chances to score. After having several shots go just high, or wide, or stopped by Man of the Match, Goalkeeper Drew Piston, finally a scramble in front of goal resulted in a tap-in by coach Oli Christopherson. (Well, it was cold on the sidelines, and as an aficionado of the game Oli had subbed himself in for the Riptide… just couldn’t stand not playing). As an adult player in the match he was summarily fined for an entry fee and an additional donation is forthcoming. A quick sideline to note that the men pay an entry fee, and the top 11 entry fees win you a starting position in the game. $1,200 were raised for the Ryan Krug Scholarship this year. Congrats to the men for that.

Back to the game. It ended full time in a 1-1 tie. Since this is for a trophy the game could not end in a tie. Though hypothermia was setting in, especially for the crowd, well… the 10 people remaining anyway…. two extra time halves were played of 5 minutes each. The score remained 0-0, so it was down to a best of 5 PKs. The Riptide won the coin toss and elected to kick first.

Riptider Gabe Reoux scored his PK low and to the left. JT then evened the score for the men. Bohdin Mozeleski stepped up and drilled his PK high up the middle. Keeper Beardsley then stopped Sergei’s attempt. Clese Christopherson stepped up and thumped his PK solidly in. Jamie O’Neil took his shot, and keeper Beardsley with a swift dive to his right into the muddy grass made the stop. This gave the Riptide a 3-1 lead, with two shots to go. Bernard Cowen of the Riptide stepped up. He placed the ball on the mark. Took a hard look around. Licked his lips, and stepped into action, striking the ball hard and to the the lower right of the frame. It skipped across the wet ground in seemingly slow motion, deflected by keeper Piston who had guessed the right side, but the speed of the ball and the slick conditions saw it squirt through his grasp and into the goal. This gave the Riptide the win with 4 PKs and no way for men to equal that with two kicks left.

Final score Riptide 5 Men 2.

— Greg Martin is the assistant coach of the Vashon Island Soccer Club Riptide and organizer of the Vashon Cup.