Monarchs strike gold at River City Cup

Once upon a time, a team of 8- and 9-year-old boys from a tiny mountain town far, far away, stormed the big city’s summer tournament and miraculously won a championship.

Defying all expectations, the Sandpoint Monarchs miraculously finished a marathon tournament of five games as champions, scoring the winning goal in storybook fashion during the final whistle to seize victory 3-2. 

Sandpoint opened their five-game tournament with a 5-5 tie Friday, followed by two thrilling victories on Saturday, 6-4 and 7-5 over talented teams from Othello and Tri-Cities, Wash. The, the Monarchs put on a scoring clinic Sunday morning against a strong Wenatchee, Wash., squad.

“Our objective was to play these three teams we’ve never played before, who eat, breathe and live for soccer. Their ball skills and mastery of the game are a couple years beyond ours” Sandpoint coach Lawson Tate said.

While Sandpoint’s normal finishers were struggling to find the net, Aiden put on a clinic with eight goals on Saturday.

The Sunday morning game gave Monarch players a chance to work on possession, finishing, and getting familiar with new positions in a 7-2 victory over Wenatchee. 
Avery Bonner-McCoy demonstrated his agility and intensity with some impressive play.
Kit Gaddess, arguably the Monarchs’ most versatile player, was composed in the midfield and solid at defender. Kit’s link-loss ratio was superb, connecting a majority of his passes.

Grayson Reid consistently was the playmaker, winning possession of most loose balls that ended near him and making quality passes as well as early diagonal crosses.

Ryder Myers had a breakout game with a sweet goal.

At midfield, and the occasional stent at forward, Will Hahn impressed in his debut excelling during high competition and the intense tournament energy. Will Hawn nearly found the net on a few occasions.

During the championship game, a four-game scoring drought for southpaw striker and man-of-the-match Rowin MacDonald, came to an opportune end as Rowin opened the scoring in the fifth minute with a beautiful goal putting Sandpoint up early.

A penalty kick for the Spokane club evened the match even going in the half. Sandpoint struggled to convert opportunities yet played incredible defense, with Jacob Moren and Raleigh Brown providing consistently tough and reliable defense.

Sandpoint stuck to its game plan, going with first-string keeper Sterling Tate in the second half, who notched countless number of saves over the five-game tourney. First half keeper Garrison Markwardt entered the field in the 2nd half fully rested and hungry to attack, foreshadowing of what was to come.

Sandpoint pulled ahead in the second half with Aiden Mojitz who intelligently took the uncontested long shot, instead of engaging the two deep Spokane defenders. Spokane escalated the intensity of the match with repeated pushes, trips, and late tackles which sidelined Sandpoint stars from time to time. Midway through the second half Spokane tied it up 2 to 2.

Sandpoint was on the ropes, yet somehow survived the barrage of Spokane shots, and corner kicks totaling a dozen chances. The Monarchs made a bold line change substitution with three minutes remaining, inserting the hydrated and rested Grayson, Aiden, Rowin, and Garrison to complement the “Iron Man” back line of Raleigh and Jacob who played every grueling minute providing trusted defense. The referee signaled one minute remaining which stretched on for many. A beautiful long pass up the right side by Jacob, received by the fleet-footed Garrison whose finesse touch beat a defender, Garrison gathered his composure as approaching the end line, intelligently delivering a composed low cross into the hectic goal box, where two Sandpoint attackers made timely runs to the near and far goal post. Rowin cleaned up the loose ball with a one touch winning goal literally during the final whistle. Blurred with tears of joy at the 3-2 championship win, Sandpoint rushed the field embracing Garrison’s miraculous performance and Rowin’s 110% effort in a fairytale finale.