First tournament of the year, first tournament win.
The Under-13 Kodiaks, an all-star team from the Prince George Youth Soccer Association, topped the field at the Penticton Spring Cup, held on the weekend. In the final, the Kodiaks beat Penticton 4-0.
For the P.G. boys the championship-game victory was especially sweet because they had fallen 1-0 to the same club in the last outing of round robin.
"I think it was a case of Penticton coming [into the final] overconfident and not thinking we had much to offer," said Kodiaks head coach Brad Stewart. "The key for me was that. The other was that we stuck to our game plan -- we kept the ball on the ground, didn't kick it away. It's a great start, a great confidence booster to get the season underway."
In their other games, the Kodiaks controlled the pitch against Calgary and won 6-1 and they also downed Kelowna 4-1.
During the tournament, Kyle West, Owen Stewart and Ryan Gaiesky provided the goals for the Kodiaks. Other team members are Jonathan Doyon, Justin Hunter, Cooper Emmons, Dalton Travers, Seth Bouliane, Merek Cutler, Will Erickson, Owen Delisle, Jared MacPherson, Yanni Trujillo, Garett Shervey, Malcolm Lambert and Ryland Horvat. Scott Emmons is the assistant coach and Deb Stewart is the team manager.
Brad Stewart said the Kodiaks have "huge" potential this season.
"If they're willing to put in the work, the results will come," he said. "I'm not a result-oriented coach -- I just want to see development, see them getting better each time. This is a good start. The seed has been planted."
The next tournament for the Kodiaks will be on Easter weekend in Kamloops.
