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First wins for pro soccer club

Who put the fire out? The Prince George Fury did -- the Fury extinguished the Wenatchee Fire, and in the process soothed a rash that came with being winless in their inaugural pro indoor soccer season.
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Who put the fire out?

The Prince George Fury did -- the Fury extinguished the Wenatchee Fire, and in the process soothed a rash that came with being winless in their inaugural pro indoor soccer season.

The Fury put an 0-4 start behind it in grand fashion, taking a 6-0 lead early in the first of two games Saturday en route to a 14-1 triumph in Game 1. In the nightcap at CN Centre, the Fury blasted the Fire, which did not bring its 'A' lineup north, by a score of 13-3.

Regardless, the Fury was pleased to put some points in the standings.

"They were missing some guys, but I don't think they were guys who would make a huge difference," said player/head coach Sipho Sibiya.

"To be honest, we should've beaten them (in Wenatchee on Jan. 24). But we didn't make the mistakes in these games that we did in our first weekends. We're improving, and we didn't give up easy goals like we did in those first games."

The two main lineup changes Sibiya made for Game 1 included putting Mitchell McFarland in goal, replacing Kyle Flannagan, and inserting newly-added forward Tyler Wood. For the second game, Sibiya took a seat and so did regulars Shawn Basi, Ante Cirko, Liam MacPhail, Tyson Von Den Steinen and Joao Medeiros, allowing Corey Anderson, Danny Dell and Jon Sexton to make their debuts. Sexton doesn't even appear on the team's roster.

McFarland tended goal in both victories.

"We wanted to get some fresh legs and use our roster, like we talked about, but also to get a look at some players," said Sibiya. "The threat I made, of making roster changes, it's never off the table. That's how it works in pro sports."

At 2-4, Prince George sits in last place in the four-team Canadian Major Indoor Soccer League -- the Saskatoon Accelerators lead with a 4-2 mark, followed by Calgary FC (3-1) and the Edmonton Drillers (3-3). The Fire and Tacoma Stars, the Fury's opposition the first three weekends, play in the U.S.-based Professional Arena Soccer League and the interlocking games count in the CMISL standings.

Garret Brown was the lone Fire player to beat McFarland in Game 1, scoring when the clock read 13-0, and all but three Fury players recorded at least a point, with four goals credited to Matt Mehrassa and three others to Sibiya. Jon LaFontaine had two, with singles by Tyson Williams, Tyler Wood, Joao Medeiros, Andrew Seabrook and Tyson Von Den Steinen.

In Game 2, Wood scored four times and chipped in with three helpers, with two-goal efforts from LaFontaine, Williams, Scott DeBianchi and Andrew Mehrassa. Seabrook had a goal and an assist.

Attendance was not strong -- or not up to what owner John Mehrassa is on record as saying is required to make the Fury a viable franchise given the costs of facility rental, travel, and other expenses. No more than 800 sets of eyes were at the afternoon game, and roughly the same-sized gathering showed up at night, though the team announced crowds of 1,038 and 1,206 respectively.

"The numbers have been disappointing," admitted Mehrassa. "It is an expansion team, it is something new. I don't know how they came up with (the announced attendance) numbers, but for sure it wasn't enough (to cover costs)."

The Fury travel to Alberta next weekend for games in Edmonton, set for Saturday evening, and Calgary, a 4 p.m. local time start on Sunday.

Following that, the Fury have two weekends of play remaining, including a home doubleheader against Edmonton on Valentine's Day. On Feb. 20-21 the Fury will be in Winnipeg.

"We'll review the weekend, but we expect the upcoming games to be tough ones and we'll take our best lineup,"said Sibiya.

"We want to get our first wins on the road now. It feels good to win."