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Title:11 game unbeaten streakPortland Football Club
By Jeff Gard
Published in The Review Mirror
Date: August 20, 2003

PFC increases unbeaten streak to 11 in final Kingston
Soccer League game.

A 3-1 win over the Kingston Clippers on the road
Monday night not only marked the end of the season
schedule for the Portland Football Club, it also
marked the end of their tenure in the Kingston Soccer
League.

Since the PFC is off to Sweden next July to compete in the 2004 Gothia Cup, they won't be competing in a league because of their classification as a Canadian rep team, meaning they can only compete in tournaments.

However, the PFC does have one order of business to finish. The KSL championship tournament takes place this weekend. The top two teams emerging from a five-game round robin will move on to a Sunday afternoon final. Due to the volume of games being played, teams will have to adjust to playing two 18-minute halves, compared to the two 45-minute halves
they're used to playing this season. "I think we're going to come out in full force," said Mike Evans.

Referring to the team's success, in only their second season, Evans said, " This was very unexpected. I'm glad it happened, but I had no idea that we were going to go unbeaten for like 10 games after our first loss." Actually, make that an 11-game unbeaten streak. Following the first game of the season, a 4-2 loss at the hands of the Clippers, the PFC went on to record
six wins and five ties, good enough for at least second place in the season standings. A loss by Gananoque Monday night would have pitted the two teams in a first-place tie, settled by goal differential.

No results were available at press time. "I had faith in the team and I always kept thinking that maybe this season would be a good one, and it turned out to be a very good one," said Eric Larson, who scored a pair of goals, including the game-winner in the second half of Monday nights game. Portland's other goal was courtesy of Greg Thomas.

PFC players know this year's improvement by the club didn't come along on its own, it took a whole team effort.
"Last year, we weren't as good as a team," Evans recalled. "This year, the first game we didn't play as well and we knew we needed to improve. So through this season, we just kept working harder and harder."

Josh Eysaman elaborated. "We've gotten faster and we've gotten smarter passing wise," he said. "Everything's just gotten
better and better."

The PFC will look to improve on last year's one win and three ties at the KSL championship tournament, when they take to the field for the final time this season in Kingston this weekend.