Green Monarchs FC adds three new trophies

SANDPOINT — In what may have been the last soccer game at War Memorial Field in its historic state, Sandpoint’s Green Monarchs battled from a 2-0 halftime deficit and miraculously tallied three late goals to steal the win, stunning the Montana Rapids Premier from the Kalispell-Whitefish area in late June.

The annual event is coined The North Idaho Cup. This year’s squad was a combination of the club’s two squads, the elite Green Monarchs and its masters team, the Grey Monarchs.

The marathon was prime example of just how dangerous a 2–0 lead can be.

“We wanted this one so bad. After being comfortably up 2-0, this loss will be painful for a long time, possibly forever, especially since the Monarchs almost always beat us,” said a breathless, dejected Montana defender.

The Rapids tended to dominate the game and were the younger, fitter, better squad, but the wise, crafty Monarchs seized upon their few opportunities and paced themselves. It took 70 minutes for the Monarchs to break the ice, when Sandpoint’s Halvor Mikkelsen, recently home from playing professionally in Norway, slotted a shot from 15 yards out.

In his first man-of-the-match award, SHS and Spokane Falls CC alum Travinho Smith delivered two late game gifts. In the 78th minute on a right side breakaway, Smith positioned himself between the ball and a tackling defender, dramatically hitting the pitch hard to earn the Monarchs a well deserved penalty kick. Longtime Oregon State and San Diego Sockers alum Evan McNeley laced the rocket shot into the rear netting for the tying goal.

A few minutes before the final whistle, Smith found another breakaway and with questionable wit, chipped the out-rushing keeper with a softly placed lob shot from 20 yards out, falling under the crossbar in the 88th minute.

“I knew it was maybe going in the moment I hit it,” smiled Smith.

Dustin Pilcher, of Coeur d’Alene, was back in the net for the Monarchs and earned his 101st cap, moving him to 3rd all time. The Monarchs conditionally signed rookies Charlie Crane Jr. and Jared Cooper, both SHS standouts.

“Crane and Cooper are key additions and management is confident they will continue to excel,” said club executive VP, Lonnie Williams.

“At halftime we purposefully regressed and changed our attitude back to just having fun. Something was in the air, a comeback was imminent and the sight of that Victory bell . . . heck of a way to send off the grand field into a new era. We all bleed green,” exclaimed veteran Green Monarch defender and club legal counsel Zac Jones.

In July, both Sandpoint men’s teams brought home the gold At the 44th Julyfest soccer tournament in Kimberley, BC,. Undeterred after failing to qualify for the elite A division, the young-buck Green Monarchs easily won the “B” league championship, while the Grey Monarchs bested their two arch rivals to claim the Grey’s first championship trophy at Julyfest, one of Canada’s most storied and largest soccer tournaments.

Sandpoint’s Green Monarchs Futbol Club was established sometime near the turn of the recent century. Many of the founders have aged into retirement, careers and family life, but a few old-buck silver foxes have aged reasonably well and transitioned the club’s dominance in the master’s division.

“We enjoy competing and especially winning, even if it is against old hockey stars in their off season,” joked SHS alum Jason Wyatt of Post Falls.

For the past few years, the Green Monarchs have fielded a 35-plus masters team, default named the Grey Green Monarchs. The Grey’s roster grows deeper and stronger with each passing year.

“Adding a second team to the club has long been an objective. It benefits the club and community, and it also gives us old dogs a place to lie,” claimed local physical therapist Hal Schmidt, fully recovered from a debilitating broken jaw due to a Canadian hockey check on the soccer field during Julyfest 2014.

In qualifying, the Grey’s only capitalized on one of their 18 shots, and escaped with a tie against Calgary’s Blue Steele, who missed their own winning goal not once but twice in the final minutes, against a beleaguered and meager Monarch defense.

The Greys turned it around Saturday afternoon and found some precision in their passing and scoring, resulting in a 4-0 win against the Rangers Athletics who hail from somewhere else.

The Greys had never advanced beyond the semi-finals, and faced their nemisis from Calgary, the Chinook Red Elephants. In the opening minutes, after the whistle called play dead, a Calgary enforcer was ejected after he shoved and flat-backed a meek, but wise Grey Monarch. The momentum and odds shifted from the Reds to the Grey’s. The Monarchs advanced to the finals on the 1-0 win. The win was not without casualties. Valuable Grey Monarch warhorse defender JP Huguenin cracked skulls and lacerated his forehead and was out for finals.

In the championship, longtime defending champion and perennial powerhouse White House Grill out of the greater Spokane area was upset by Sandpoint 2-1. The Grey’s surprised all with fresh 35 year-old talent and collegiate veterans on waivers from the Montana Rapids Premier and Salt Lake City. The Grey’s went up early. A White House striker from the former soviet block then evened the match 1-1 mid way though the first half. A late goal secured the Grey Monarch’s first Julyfest masters division championship.

The Green Monarchs results: In qualifying, 1-0 vs Calgary’s Bafana Bafana on a goal by Lucas McCoy; 0-2 vs Tar-Sands’ Euro FC; 0-1 vs Banff. B-league quarter finals: 5-1 (GMFC win); semi-finals 7-3 (Anthony Fox scored four goals and Travis Smith three); finals 4-0 win, with goals by two goals by Smith and one each from McCoy and Fox.