The Woodland Venom U15 youth boys soccer team, a part of the Pacific Soccer Club, won the 2023 Washington Youth Soccer Recreational Cup at the Starfire Sports Complex in Tukwila Sunday, Dec. 10, after an undefeated season.
The Venom claimed the title in dramatic fashion against a team from Lake Stevens, whom they defeated in penalty kicks after a 2-2 finish in regulation and overtime.
“We’ve been undefeated two seasons in a row now, and I told them if they go undefeated in league again in the fall that we would join the recreational cup,” head coach Dave Tallbut said. “And so we finished out the season undefeated and entered the rec cup.”
Tallbut said the road to the youth soccer recreational cup game began with the Venom winning their district and then a team from Lacy in the quarterfinals. They then defeated a team from Issaquah in the semifinals before facing the Lake Stevens team.
Tallbut said the experience his players gained by playing teams from the Seattle area was great but daunting.
“Being from a small town like Woodland and going up against bigger teams from up north is always daunting, and the fact that we were able to be the highest-scoring team in our age bracket in the tournament was a pretty amazing experience for the boys,” Tallbut said.
The team is made up of mostly players from Woodland but a couple are from Ridgefield as well, Tallbut said. Tallbut has coached the core group of his players since they were about 7 or 8 years old.
JH Kelly, an industrial mechanical contractor, sponsored the Woodland Venon team for the tournament.
“They paid for our jerseys, and they helped with some of the travel expenses, which was really awesome because a lot of these players don’t even have rides to practices,” Tallbut said. “… And so it was really cool to see a big supporter of soccer step up like JH Kelly.”
During the entire tournament, the team scored 31 goals in five games. Tallbut gave his Most Valuable Player award to Josue Martinez-Alejo for his play on defense and offense. Adrian Mayo was awarded the Golden Boot award for a hat trick in the quarterfinals in the first six minutes of the game.
Alex Garcia-Desiderio earned the Golden Glove award from Tallbut for his superior goalkeeper efforts. He saved a shot in the final minute of overtime in the championship match in a one-on-one situation to take the game to penalty kicks.
“A year ago when I met him, he had never played officially on a team before, and I thought he was joking,” Tallbut said of his goalkeeper.
Tallbut added that Garcia-Desiderio didn’t fully understand the rules of being a goalkeeper when they first met. After shoring up his knowledge for the game, Garcia-Desiderio has been a lockdown goalkeeper for the Venom, Tallbut said.
Tallbut said that during his years coaching he has seen the sport’s popularity grow in Woodland.
“Over the years, there’s been kids in the community who don’t have teams that just come out for fun and they’ll show up at the practice and be like, ‘Can we practice with you?’ ”
Tallbut added that those kids have become part of the team despite not being officially rostered. He said he enjoys sharing his love of soccer with youth, adding he has watched the kids who join grow as individuals and as players.
“Eventually, those kids end up on a team or then you see them years down the road playing for the high school, and it’s a pretty cool thing to see them get more integrated into school sports and youth sports,” Tallbut said.
He added that he wished Woodland had similar facilities in walking distance to the heart of the community as Ridgefield does. He said having turf fields with lights in Woodland would make a big difference in the community and for the kids who practice.
