Prince Rupert’s men’s Football Club finishes third in Kitimat soccer tournament despite missing players

It was a tiring weekend for the Prince Rupert men’s Football Club who played their first two games without substitutes. Despite the setback, they finished third out of seven teams in Kitimat’s soccer tournament.

The Haisla Annual Soccer Tournament kicked off on Friday, July 5 where men’s and women’s teams from across the Northwest competed in the tournament.

READ MORE: Soccer action all weekend long: Seven men’s and six women’s teams play in Kitimat

Prince Rupert’s men got off to a slow start with a 0-4 loss to the Hazelton Strikers.

“We were shorthanded and didn’t have all our players,” said Vern Barker, captain for the men’s PRFC. “It’s tough to get our players out on a Friday because everyone works till five or six.”

Aman Gill and Jake Deforge scored the first two goals for PRFC on Saturday, beating the Kitimat Braves 2-0.

Barker said they had just enough players to fill the team with no substitutes until the rest came up Sunday to form a complete team.

On Sunday, the Kitimat Rio-Tintot came to the same fate as the Braves after Deforge and Nelson Morvin scored the only two goals of the game for Prince Rupert.

Later in the day, PRFC faced off against the Terrace Providers for a spot in the finals.

Karan Gill, scored PRFC’s only goal against the Providers. PRFC held the lead late into the second half, until one of their players got his second yellow card of the game, forcing them to play shorthanded.

The Providers took advantage of the man-down situation tying the game 1-1.

After two rounds of shootouts, the Providers got the golden goal, beating PRFC 1-2 and snagging their spot in the finals.

“We played good half our team had to work on the weekend and we had a couple injuries. We came in with what we had and had fun,” said Barker.

Barker and Karan Gill each brought home the tournament All-Star awards for their performance during the weekend.

READ MORE: Prince Rupert’s women’s Football Club headed to finals seeking their third ever tournament victory

For the men, the Strikers and Providers will face off for the title of Haisla 2019 soccer champions Sunday evening. Prince Rupert’s athletes are not coming home without a championship though.

The PRFC women won their tournament earlier on Sunday afternoon, reaching their third title this season and in their history.