It makes the Rusty Buffalo the first men’s team from Fairbanks to win back-to-back state championships.
“What makes it so amazing is that we shouldn’t be here. We go down and we play teams that train and have tryouts and cuts,” said Tristan Cobine, team captain and defender. “We’re not very disciplined and we are not a normal competitive team.”
The Buffalo, which has been together since 2003, is a group of self-coached friends who love soccer but are bound more by social than competitive glue.
The potpourri of players range in age from their mid-20s to late-30s and come from Alaska, Denmark, Japan, Africa, Greece, Russia and elsewhere.
Their backgrounds range from astrophysics doctoral students and pipeline engineers to laborers and full-time athletes.
But they were all one on the rain-ravaged soccer field during a penalty-kick shootout that decided the state championship.
Linking arms, they formed a chain of mud-splattered yellow jerseys as they cheered their shooters and their goalkeeper after 110 minutes of a gritty, scoreless match against Street Soccer Academy of Anchorage.
“I knew I just had to commit to a side and get some body part on the ball. I don’t think I stopped a single PK with my hands, but nobody gives out trophies for style points,” said goalie Dan Reichardt, who saved one kick with his legs and another with his midsection.
Rusty Buffalo won the shootout 4-3 in front of more than 100 fans, including families, superfans and the team’s namesake, a giant German shepherd-lab mix, who made the trip from Fairbanks.
The tournament, at the Javier Dela Vega Soccer Fields in Anchorage, ran Friday through Sunday and included six first-division men’s teams.
The Buffalo played five games in less than 48 hours and finished 4-0-1. The weekend also included a Snoop Dogg concert and plenty of Ibuprofen.
The Buffalo were not the obvious champion.
“I don’t think we had the best team in this tournament, but from my vantage in goal I didn’t see any team worked harder than us or trust their teammates as much as us,” Reichardt said.
Rusty Buffalo played a midfield-heavy formation with one forward, dynamic wings and a tough defense. They didn’t steamroll the competition, but they worked hard for every ball and played to their strengths — skill, experience and pockets of killer speed.
“Our team is willing to fight for every inch, from top to bottom,” Cobine said.
After netting just one goal — from a penalty kick — in the first two games, the third game against Yukon Select was the turning point for the team, said forward Bhaskar Neogi.
In the first half, midfielder Jason Case got on the end of a cross by Yosuke Okada, who threaded through several defenders, a signature play for the striker.
“Jason smashed it one-time with a header,” Cobine said.
D’aquin Kouda sealed the win late with a spin-laden shot that wriggled through the keeper’s hands.
“That’s the first time we started believing we’re going to go through,” midfielder Neogi said.
Kouda scored again in the semifinals Sunday morning, toe-poking a loose ball under the keeper’s reach.
The final yielded lots of scoring opportunities, mostly for the other team, who dominated the attack in the first half and even rattled the crossbar with a near-goal. Fairbanks played tenacious defense throughout and heated up in the second half with some dangerous pushes from the flanks.
As 20 minutes of overtime evaporated, keeper Reichart and five shooters took the team’s fate into their hands in the shootout.
Danny Dominick, Josh Kunz and Ken Carr buried their shots one by one. When Reichart saved the next shot, the outcome rested with Fairbanks’ fifth kicker. Neogi stepped up, faked hard to the left and drilled the ball low into the right corner, precipitating a sweaty dog-pile celebration followed by an after-party and eventually a long but joyful ride back to Fairbanks.
“I don’t know if I could be any prouder of our team,” Cobine said. “People have said we’re just a beer league team, but we’re a family.”
Players on the team include Cobine, Okada, Andreas Droulias, Carr, Kieran Gleason, Daylen Evanger, Poul Jensen, Reichardt, Danny Dominick, Perry Dominick, Jason Case, Kunz, Neogi, Dmitri Kotlovenko, Pat Race, Aaron Suring, John Denny and Kouda. Not able to play in the tournament were Nils Pedersen and Johnny Mendez.
Women second
The Busty Ruffalo, one of two women’s teams from Fairbanks, finished second in the women’s division.
After winning all three preliminary games, the Ruffalo lost in a shootout to a team from Anchorage. The score was 1-1 after regulation.
Maja Pedersen from Fairbanks scored when she hit a laser into the top left corner off a free kick from 30 yards out.
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