That swampy mud pit disguised as a soccer field after a drenching late afternoon rain shower Saturday made for some nasty splashdowns that would have looked great in a Tide commercial.
It was a game for all the marbles in the North Cariboo Senior Soccer League's Open Division and when it was all said and done, Molson Assante scored a sloppy 3-1 decision over JTM Home Solutions.
Christian Willing, Kyle Flannagan and Michael O'Sullivan took care of the scoring for Molson, allowing them to complete their playoff rise to the top after an unspectacular fourth-place regular-season finish.
Willing got it going for Molson midway through the first half when he took advantage of a rebound after goalie Emerson Secor had trouble hanging on to the wet slippery ball booted hard by O'Sullivan. It skipped off the turf then hit Secor's hands and landed right at the feet of Willing.
Flannagan made it a 2-0 game when he stripped the ball away from Andrew Mehrassa and picked the corner low on Secor with a 15-metre strike.
The JTM guys in black halved the lead five minutes into the second half when the Mehrassa brothers, Andrew and Matt, connected on a crossing feed with Andrew doing the finishing off his forehead to beat goalie Jon Richards.
But not long after that, O'Sullivan sank the deadly dagger in when he alertly noticed, just before taking a free kick from 40 metres out, there was no wall of opponents in front of him to block the shot. Secor dove to his left and got a piece of the ball but it had enough force to keep rolling into the goal.
"We knew they were going to come at us in the second half and they were arguing among themselves so I took a quick free kick and it caught the keeper by surprise," said O'Sullivan, 36, who joined the team this year, having learned the game growing up in Dublin, Ireland.
"We were delighted by that and defended well and this is well-deserved. The boys put the effort in, they wanted it more, and it showed at the end in the result."
O'Sullivan's experience, having played the game in Ireland, made him a constant and unpredictable scoring threat which helped put Molson over the top.
"He's a smart player – he saw our goalie lining up the wall and he took advantage of it," said Matt Mehrassa. "It wasn't our goalie's fault, (O'Sullivan) was far out and (Secor) probably wasn't anticipating a shot, but he's a quality player and he hit it nice. That took the wind out of our sails for sure."
Molson (10-9-1) scored a huge upset in the semifinal round when they eliminated first-place Grewal Group (16-3-1) with a 3-0 victory. Flannagan said having the luxury of a few subs around the field Saturday was a key ingredient in sustaining their playoff drive.
"We haven't had many guys out (to play) throughout the year so it's good to get everybody out for playoffs," said Flannagan. "We have a good core group and a lot of guys have played university and once we're all here we're a decent team."
"It was nasty conditions and a greasy game with hard tackles and not the nicest goals but it was a good game."
In the 35+ Division final earlier Saturday, Portuguese-born-and-raised Bruno Rodriguez scored his second goal of the game with about five minutes left to give Queensway Auto World a 4-3 win over Splash Media/Assante.
Matt Mehrassa scored all three goals for Splash Media to overcome a 3-0 deficit with still plenty of time left in the second half, but they couldn't stop Rodriguez.
"Everybody's happy, especially me – it was a tough game," said Rodriguez, who turned 30 on Friday. "It was scary of course, after you're wining 3-0 and those guys came back to make it 3-3. I was looking for it, to have that winning goal and we lost a few chances there, but finally we got the goal and we win the game. I just made a run behind the defence and the goalkeeper came out and it was just a 50-50 ball and I put it in."
Rodriguez scored four of his team's five goals in a 5-2 semifinal win over Eden Spas/Geotech a week ago.
"Bruno was the hero in the final and in the semifinal, he's got a rocket of a shot," said Queensway player/coach Matt Mortlock. "He was the MVP of the playoffs for sure."
Defender Odinn Steinsson connected with a long shot to the top corner of the net and Mandeep Bhatti, on his first touch of the ball before he had to leave the game with an injury, also scored for Queensway, which hadn't won the 35+ title since 2011. Goalie Ryan Turner provided a huge lift for his Queensway mates when he stopped a penalty shot early to keep the game scoreless.
Matt Mehrassa drew double-duty on finals day, playing for both Assante teams, as did Joao Medeiros and Jon Lafontaine.
Mr. Quick Gunners doubled Subway 4-2 to capture the 45+ Division title. Steve Treasure, Ron Pollilo, Darrin Talbot and Rodney Robinson accounted for the Gunners' goals. Rob Deol and Kal Bassi were the Subway marksmen.
