The Pender Harbour Bananas ended a year-long winless streak with a 4-2 victory over first-place Ridgepoint in Sunshine Coast Men's Soccer League action last weekend.
The Bananas' soccer seasons are as unpredictable as their fishing seasons - you never know what's going to be in the net - and after last season's empty nets, their fans were starved. This week, however, it was fan favourite Rod Kammerle to the rescue. Though his post-goal knee slides and chest poundings are gone, his scoring touch remains, as he put two in the Bruins' net, while Jag Singh's rocket also singed the net and Paul VanWersh notched a single.
At Ted Dixon, it was CPU against the cagey veterans United, or Bulldogs for short. Bulldogs are a who's who of 1980s Coastal soccer greats, with Barry Johnson, Stu Craigan, Ian Dixon and Robert Joe each having more than five decades of experience on the pitch. However, these genial grandfathers also once were warriors, with a few of them having played within the Whitecaps organization.
Anyone over 30, new to the game and looking for some field time and soccer mentorship, please contact Ian Dixon at 604-865-0426.
Sitas kept the Chiefs' scoring machine at bay for the first half, until Scott Johnson pounded a ball off Tony Duffy, who went to the wrong corner after the disorienting hit. Willie Johnson scored the second, and big-man-in-the-box John Jackson further laid claim to his strikers' spot, by putting away a pair in the 5-0 Chiefs' victory.
In the women's league, Brent Sheppard's Banana Peppers (aka Brenny and the B-Peps) also turned last year's winless frowns upside down to start the season with two smiley "W's" for wins.
This team of early-20-somethings has emerged from last year's getting-to-know-you season to the up-and-coming force in the league, and this reporter is making an eight-month forecast of a Banana Peppers/Ya Yas final.
In their 2-0 defeat of Source last Wednesday night, Erin Aitkin scored both goals with Paige Natall getting her jersey dirty late in the game to preserve her shutout.
In their 6-2 defeat of Mayhem on Sunday, Banana Peppers got single goals from Mary Mackay and Brittany Sheppard and pairs from Lauren Storoschuk and Erin Aitken.
Ya Yas kept up their winning ways with a 3-0 win over Source, with breakaway goals from Alvina Paul and Kari Dixon, followed by a precision header from Dixon.
