It's not enough for a trip to Maui, but $1,000 payday could buy busload of foot-long sandwiches for Subway FC on their next roadtrip.
That big cheque was their reward after a 2-0 win Sunday over the Prince George under-18 Kodiaks in the final of the 15th annual Blackburn Cup women's indoor soccer tournament at the Northern Sport Centre.
Emily Kwitkowski and Camila Lemoine provided all the offence Subway needed to lock up the win. Both goals came in the first half and both were the result of speed moves to the outside that caught Kodiak defenders dead in their tracks.
Kwitkowski, a forward, was one of three under-18 Kodiaks players who joined Subway for the tournament. Kwitkowski, Emily Sexton and Jo Ribeiro have been trying to keep pace with Subway FC all season playing for the Prince George Youth Soccer Association Showcase Academy team in the B.C. Indoor Soccer League. Lemoine was also a late addition, joining Subway two weeks ago. They combined on a veteran crew that includes Holly Miller, Jodi Godwin and Andrea Bertulli.
"I knew it was going to be intense playing them and it was fun," said Kwitkowski. "Winning is always good. That's basically the Academy team so I've been with them for three or four years. You want to do your best to show they're missing out on you."
Subway forced the play when it needed to and for the most part dictated the pace of the game with quick and precise ball movement that rarely got them into trouble in their own end of the field. Kirsty Ames notched the shutout.
"We wanted to show how good we are and I wanted people to see that soccer in Prince George is like this and wining the money is just a bonus," said Subway FC coach Mato Mikic. "We will put this money to our FC team that we carry though summer the summer to cover travel and expenses. We took them to Kamloops (for an outdoor tournament) last year and ended up winning that. Either this year or next year we will try to take this team further, maybe California or Hawaii, where we can play soccer and enjoy ourselves."
Subway went 4-0 in the tournament, including a win over the U-18s in the round-robin on Friday. They lead the B.C. Indoor League's Division 1 with a 14-1 record.
"We've always stressed give-and-gos, one-touch passes and no travelling up by yourself and we're pretty good when we stick with that," said Miller.
In the men's final that followed Sunday, Pistol Whipped of Kamloops defeated Smithers 2-1. Jason Burrows scored with 2:20 left in the second half to cinch the win. Justin Wallace fired the equalizer 16 minutes into the first half, after Ian Gemmell staked Smithers to an early lead.
Kamloops collected $2,500 for winning the 11-team men's tournament.
