The U15 Richmond Strikers find themselves in familiar territory after digging deep to become the lone team to enjoy home field advantage for next weekend’s Coastal “A” and B” Cup Championships.
The rep girls soccer team pulled to a dramatic 2-1 win in penalty kicks over the Vancouver Island Riptide on Saturday in Campbell River. The result gives the Strikers an opportunity to defend their title when Richmond F.C. and the Richmond Girls Soccer Association co-host the 66th annual B.C. Soccer event.
All three fields at Minoru Park will be utilized for 24 title games over the two days — ranging from U13 to U18.
It was last July when the Strikers were also the lone city involved when Richmond hosted the Provincial “A” Cup Championships and capped a terrific campaign with a bronze medal.
Now they have an opportunity to get back to the showcase event — slated for Cloverdale this time — thanks to a big time effort on the Island.
The terrific battle was scoreless through regulation and the Riptide broke the deadlock in the early going of the second overtime half. The Strikers raced back to centre for the re-start and their level of urgency was awarded with a penalty kick that was converted by Jaya Punia with four minutes remaining.
Penalty kicks followed and Richmond goalkeeper Makayla Kusch came up large with two huge saves. Carina Weavers, Lexy Shury and Christina Sofiki converted from the 12-yard spot, setting the stage for Punia to score the decisive goal.
“It was an absolute thriller with some of the best soccer I have seen played. Either team could have easily won,” said Mandhir Punia who coaches the Strikers along with Greg Ng.
A year ago, the girls also captured the Metro League regular season title that clinched a berth in provincials. This time they are trying to do it the hard way after finishing second to the West Vancouver Rangers.
The difference in the standings was a 5-4 loss way back in October that saw the Rangers roar back from a 3-0 halftime deficit with five goals over a 25-minute span.
It was the Strikers (13-14) only loss in 18 league games while the Rangers finished unbeaten (14-0-3) but were upset by Fraser Valley in the Coastal Cup quarter-finals.
Fraser Valley will meet the Strikers next Sunday (1 p.m. Minoru Oval) after defeating Surrey 3-1 in the other U15A semi-final.
Corner kicks…
It was a close call for three other city teams trying to advance to the Coastal Finals.
The RGSA U13 Metro Red Bulls were trimmed 2-1 on Sunday by the Burnaby Fire. Meanwhile, a boys “B” Cup semi-final doubleheader at Richmond High saw the U16 Richmond FC Rangers trimmed 3-2 by the Wesburn Galaxy while the U15 Richmond FC Strikers fell 2-1 to the South Burnaby Metro Spartans.
