The VIPL Storm defeated the Comox Valley Riptide 3–1 to earn the number two seed heading into the Coastal Cup running through April.
The Vancouver Island Premier League Storm soccer team took the 1-0 lead early in the second half but that was quickly erased. Ten minutes later, the Riptide evened the score after a scramble in front of the Storm’s net.
The Storm kept up the pace and put the go ahead goal in, five minutes later on a breakaway. Ten minutes after taking the lead, the Storm put it to bed with their third goal to seal the deal. This gives the Storm an automatic berth to the provincials in Burnaby, July 2 – 5.
“It was just one of those games that wasn’t a pretty game. Lots of scrambles, lots of physicality, both teams were having trouble stringing anything together,” coach Butch Gayton said. “The emotion was running high because the girls have a history with the Riptide so they were playing as hard as they could and are happy that we were able to finally beat them.”
The Storm now prepare for the Coastal Cup, seeded second out of eight teams.
The VIPL squad will be taking on teams from the Lower Mainland starting April 4 and running to the end of the month. If the Storm win, they continue to advance through the Coastal Cup.
“The girls are really excited to play against these teams from Vancouver. It’s going to be a good test for us, but we’re right there,” Gayton said. “The Riptide finished as one of the top teams in the province last year, so that just shows where our team is at in terms of being able to compete.”