The Riptide SC BU10 kick started the New Year with a captivating weekend in Temecula capturing their 3rd tournament Championship at the Temecula Valley Shootout.
The BU-10 won their bracket of 3 pool play games, winning two and drawing one, and edging out a very tough Vista team to advance to the Final by a 2 goal differential. The weekend opened up with a 4-1 Win vs. Carlsbad Lightning White, who blanked the boys back in September, 0-3. Jake Donlon and Evan Grim each had two goals to push the boys through to their second game. Carlsbad had the boys on the ropes as they crept back in 2-1, but the boys held their composure and got the insurance goals to move on.
The second game was vs. a very skilled United FC. United came out strong and caught the boys off guard, taking a 0-1 lead in the opening minutes. The RSC boys would not be rattled by the early lead and piled on 5 goals, with 4 straight by RJ LaRocco, to take the 5-1 halftime lead. The boys controlled the 2nd half steadily with contributing goals from Jake Donlon (2) and Will Neves (1).
Sunday’s 3rd pool play match would be against a very fast and physical Vista team. Vista came out extremely sharp, and the boys went down 0-1 in the opening 10 minutes and seemed to start a little flustered as they tried to navigate control of the midfield and penetrate the Vista backline. It was a very even match of back and forth. Jake Donlon got hold of a deflected ball outside the box and put one in over the Vista keeper’s head to tie the game with about 5 minutes left in the half. The second half was a grudge match and the RSC boys put several quality shots on goal that could not get past the strong Vista keeper. The goalkeeper play was evenly matched by RJ LaRocco, who made several key saves to maintain the tie. Midway thru the second half, Donlon picked up another loose ball outside the box and would put a shot on goal that would bounce of the Vista keepers arm and into the net, putting the RSC boys up 2-1 with good momentum. The boys would put several more shots on goal that could not find their way, and in the closing minute, Vista would find a gap and get the tying goal as time ran out seconds later. Although phased by the last minute goal, the RSC boys did their job in pool play to get the spot in the final and edge out Vista on points.
The sun came out and the temps rose on Sunday for the final after an extremely rainy and cold Saturday. The RSC boys would meet the Woflpack from Temecula for the Championship game. The RSC boys came out of the gate a little slow and the Wolfpack put on a lot of pressure and had several opportunities early on, squeaking thru the RSC back line, but not able to penetrate Evan Grim in the goal, who was very busy in the first half. Midway thru the first half, Jake Donlon would find Will Neves with a long thru ball that Neves would collect, beat two defenders, and then the Wolfpack keeper to get the go ahead goal. The half would end 1-0 and stay that way thru the second half as the Wolfpack would continue to put on pressure, knocking on the door of the RSC backline many times, even hitting the crossbar, but could not find the back of the net with continued key and aggressive GK play from RJ LaRocco and a standout defensive performance from Linus Ticho. The RSC boys would match the pressure and eventually find another gap for Will Neves who was dominating the left side and would earn his second goal and put the RSC boys up 2-0 with less then 10 minutes left in the game. The boys did not let up, and had several more opportunities to net again, and the momentum would slowly shift stronger until the final whistle would blow and the RSC boys were victorious with the 2-0 Win!
