A silver medal and the respect of their opponent is what the PGYSA under-14 tier 1 Kodiaks earned in Sunday's gold-medal game at the Les Sinnott Memorial Boys Provincial (B) Cup.
After the game, in which the Kodiaks lost 3-1 to the Central City Breakers Galaxy (Surrey), their opponent's assistant coach Randy Taylor walked up to the team to congratulated them on making his boys earn the B.C. title.
"It was one of the toughest games we've had in a long time and the first time since April that we were scored on in a dozen cup, district and coastal league games," said Taylor. "I told the players that there was a lot of talent on their team and that Prince George soccer has improved a lot since he was a coach with Team B.C. in the 1980s."
Kodiaks head coach Rob Lewis said it was well-deserved praise for his team.
"I feel happy for our boys that they earned that respect because they deserve it," said Lewis. "This is what we worked for. We started out with a goal to make the provincial final, we worked towards it and I thought it was attainable but it's very hard to do.
"I'm very satisfied, even though a little disappointed," he added.
Galaxy took an early 2-0 lead on a pair of free kicks, but after the Kodiaks changed goaltenders the Prince George team was able to pull within a goal at 2-1 before half-time. Tyler Macsomniuk scored the Kodiaks' goal.
Prince George started the second half strong and had a great opportunity to tie the game but the Galaxy keeper pulled off a little magic to keep the ball out of his net. Not long after, the Galaxy received a break and they took advantage, beating Kodiaks' keeper Ryan Teeson for a 3-1 lead.
The goal gave the Galaxy players an air of confidence and they played a technical defensive match the rest of the way frustrating the Kodiaks.
Midway through the 35-minute second half, Lewis sent Gage Melanson into the game as a substitute and the tempo of the game picked up for the Prince George players. Melanson was a spark plug for the Kodiaks, as he fearlessly chased down the ball and outworked his opponent on most plays.
"Gage is one of our smallest guys on the field but he has one of the biggest hearts on the field and to see him battling and getting knocked around and how bad he wanted it, I think inspired the whole team to play harder," said Lewis.
Galaxy earned their place in the gold-medal game by finishing on top of Group A with a 3-0 record and a goals for/goals against of 17-0, while the Kodiaks were 2-0-1 in Group B with 10 goals for and five against.
The bronze medal in the under-14 division had Terrace beat the South Burnaby Metro Strikers 1-0, while Gorge FC (Victoria) took fifth place with a 4-1 win over the Penticton Pinnacles and the Nelson Selects finished seventh after a 1-0 win over the Prince George tier 2 Kodiaks.
Prince George had a host team (tier 2) and the Cariboo champion (tier 1) in the under 14 and under 18 divisions and had a host team in the under 16 division. There was no PGYSA representative in the under 13, under 15 and under 17 divisions.
The under-16 champion was North Vancouver Football Fury after beating Kelowna United 3-1 in the gold-medal game. The bronze medal was won by Cliff Avenue Utd. Lore (Vancouver) 2-1 over the Campbell River Blue Backs, while Terrace took fifth place with a 3-1 win over the Nelson Selects. In the seventh place game, the tier 2 Kodiaks lost 3-1 to the Williams Lake Storm. The Kodiaks finished the round robin with a 0-3 record and zero goals for, 12 against.
In under-18 action, the Kodiaks tier 2 (host) team salvaged a disappointing weekend that saw them finish with an 0-2-1 record and one goal for, seven against, with a 1-0 win in the seventh place game over the Quesnel Strikers. Braeden Rake broke a 0-0 draw with less than 10 minutes to play to give the Kodiaks the win.
Pinnacles FC took gold in the under-18 division after beating Coastal FC 3-1 in Sunday's playoff game. Coastal earned the spot in the final after a 3-1 win over the Kodiaks tier 1 team Saturday left both teams tied with 2-1 records, having both scored 10 goals and allowed four. Penalty kicks were needed to determine which team would play for gold and Coastal won 4-2.
The Kodiaks disappointment was still festering in Sunday's bronze medal game as they were pounded 7-0 by the Buckley Valley Rapids (Smithers). Fifth place went to the Saanich Fusion with a 3-2 win over ICSF United.
The six teams in the under-17 division played a five game round-robin format to declare a winner. The Surrey FC Rangers earned the gold medal with a 5-0 record, while the Terrace Kermodeis were second at 3-2.
In the under-15 division, the Kootenay South Big Horns won the gold with a 2-1 win over the Terrace Kermodeis in the championship game. Royal City Westminster Utd. won the bronze after beating the Killarney All-stars 3-2. Kelowna United took fifth place with a 3-1 win over Gorge FC. The Quesnel Strikers finished seventh of seven teams as Prince George didn't enter a host team.
Surrey FC United won the gold in the under-13 division with a 4-3 win over the Saanich Fusion, while Langley United took bronze after beating the Kamloops Blaze 2-0. Terrace took fifth place with a 2-0 win over Nelson and Williams Lake finished seventh after beating Quesnel 4-3.
* The PGYSA under-18 Kodiaks girls won the bronze medal in the B Cup provincial tournament in North Vancouver. Prince George and Bulkley Valley tied 1-1 in regulation and the Kodiaks won in a shootout. Also, in North Vancouver, the Kodiaks under-14 girls dropped a 2-1 decision to Chilliwack in the bronze-medal game.
The Prince George under-16 girls Kodiaks finished fourth in the provincial A Cup in Langley after losing 2-1 to CMFSC Galaxy in the bronze-medal game. The Delta Selects won gold with a 3-0 win over UVI Storm.
