October 13, 2022

All good things must come to an end. That’s just the way of the world. In this case, the DodgePoint Soccer regular season came to its thrilling conclusion on Thursday night. The recipient of DP’s efforts was the visiting River Valley. And it just so happened that tonight decided exactly who would be conference champions. If DP Varsity won, they received sole ownership of the title. If they tied, they would have to share it. If they lost, well… you get the picture. As you can tell, there’s a whole lot at stake.

But before that could all go down, first the JV must play. And with it being the very last JV game of the year, DP was hoping to go out on top. Did they succeed? Well, yes and no. For one thing, they had some of their best team synergy yet. A full season of working together will do that I suppose. Passes went where they needed to go and people were where they needed to be. It was a beautiful thing. But that can only go so far when River Valley is constantly breathing down your neck. They were relentless, quickly sending in play after play straight to the goal. Most of these attempts were unsuccessful thanks to the stellar DP defense. But by the time it all ran its course, two goals were on the scoreboard in River Valley’s favor. DP, unfortunately, couldn’t make it past the RV goalie in all of their attempts. So that’s how it all ended for JV this year. Not bad, but definitely something to learn from and attempt to overcome in future seasons. JV final score: 0-2 loss

And now for the moment of truth. The conference championship between DodgePoint Varsity and River Valley Varsity. Let me tell you right now, it was a (for lack of a better description) a complete and utter pulse-pounding thrill ride. Goals were scored. Goals were blocked. Balls were sent flying through the cool (and I mean cool. It was around 40 degrees during game time) night air. Good times were had by all. River Valley was relentless, but DP didn’t let an inch of territory go uncontested. If they wanted victory, they would have to earn it. So that’s what they decided to do. RV scored the game’s first goal but DP scored not long after (with a long range chip shot right past the goalie in case you were wondering). The tie didn’t last long before RV ended up scoring again not 30 seconds later. It was bonkers. Stuff like this kept happening throughout the entire game. There wasn’t a dull moment to be found in all 80 minutes of playtime. But, unfortunately, when that time did run out (in more ways than one) it was River Valley who was victorious. They just happened to have a one point lead over DP and then completely locked down their defense against the constant DP assault through the last 15 minutes of the game. It was a winning strategy I suppose. Varsity final score: 2-3 loss.

And that’s that. Varsity, with their 4 wins-2 ties–2 losses conference record was left without the championship title at the season’s end. A darn shame, as DodgePoint managed to win the conference the past two years in a row. Oh well. Things change. Such is life. But I’ll try not to get too philosophical. After all, it’s not quite over yet (at least for the DP Varsity. JV is officially done-zo as of now). DP Soccer still has playoffs to power through. This starts next Thursday but otherwise, I’m afraid it’s the end of the line. It’s been a great season full of fun soccer, engaging competition, and plain old friendship out there on the field. And, in the end, that’s what it’s all about.