It may be time to put away the balls, nets and orange slices, but the Phantom Lake Soccer Club (PLSC) season has ended as a success.
Flin Flon and Creighton’s main minor soccer organization wrapped up its season with the season-ending tournament on June 23 and 24. The club’s annual summer camp takes place this week at the Creighton soccer field.
Around 350 players registered to play with the organization this year. Soccer club president Keely Patterson said those numbers fit directly within the group’s goals.
“I think the season went really well as a whole. We usually average between 300 and 400 registrations,” she said.
Along with the steady enrollment for the PLSC’s house league season this summer, several travel teams affiliated with the soccer club found success at the Bridge City Classic tournament last month in Saskatoon. Seven teams from the Flin Flon-Creighton area played at the tournament, returning to the north with five medals in total.
Both the under-11 boys’ Vikings team and the under-11 girls’ Thunder won gold medals, with the under-11 boys’ Warriors, under-15 girls’ Lightning and under-17 Fusion girls’ team each winning silver medals. The Vikings and Warriors played each other in their divisional gold medal game, with the Vikings earning a 3-2 win.
Only the under-13 Mutants and under-15 Storm boys’ teams finished out of the medals, but had strong performances in their group.
“The two teams that did not medal were definitely worthy of a medal place, but because of the luck of their division, they fell short,” said Patterson.
“[The under-13 Mutants] didn’t medal because the top division had been dropped because there wasn’t enough teams, and they put all the top teams into their division. The competition was pretty stiff.”
The tournament is one of the major events of the year for PLSC players, facing other teams from across Saskatchewan, including teams that have the opportunity to play and practise throughout the year.
“We always find we compete very well in Saskatoon tournaments, considering our season starts much later and ends much sooner. A lot of kids in the city get the chance to play club sports and up here, pretty much as soon as the snow is melted and the moisture is dried from the field, that’s when we get to start practising,” said Patterson.
“It’s definitely among the best years that we’ve been involved.”
While the results and registration numbers are encouraging, this year, no under-17 or under-19 boys’ teams were fielded due to lack of interest.
Patterson said that soccer teams for the two area high schools will start in the fall and will include many of the players who would have suited up for the two missing teams.
“Our enrollment went down for that age category, but I think the season went really well as a whole,” she said.
“This has always been some of those same players [as high school soccer], but it also overlaps. The Saskatchewan athletes also play travel team, so it’s not just Flin Flon. Every year since I’ve been involved, there has been a team for the older boys.”
