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Portland Football Club looking forward to 2009
Scouts approach several U13 boys

By Marco Smits
The Review-Mirror
Sept 11 2008

While many of the Portland Football Club’s (PFC) players are changing their cleats for hockey skates these days, the club’s coaches are looking back at one of the organizations most successful season’s in it’s eight year history.

Among the many PFC success stories this year was the U13 boys team coached by Craig Lapierre. The team was new this year as part of the club’s expansion from three to five squads. They stayed undefeated for the first half of the season and had a long run in the East Region Soccer League (ERSL) Shield competition as well.

“The highlight of my season was having 15 boys that wanted to play and wanted to learn,” said Lapierre. It was his second season on the sidelines.

“It was a lot better this year. I was with a different quality of kids and a different mentality, which made it a lot easier and I think they are going to continue to be very strong, next year as well,” said Lapierre.

In their final game of the season, the U13 PFC boys lost 2-1 against Kingston United. Nathan Rogers scored the lone goal for Portland.

PFC finished third in their division of seven teams. They only lost four games all year and Lapierre thinks his team has the potential to move up a level.
“The top three teams, the only games they lost were against each other. We could have made a step up and we would have probably still been in the same column for wins and losses,” he said.

With five teams, PFC remains one of the smaller clubs compared to others in the ERSL. Clubs such as Cumberland and the Cataraqui Clippers have more than one U13 boys teams on various levels, and yet, the continuing growth in the Portland club shows how much local interest there is in soccer.

“We didn’t cut anybody during try outs, and playing the way we did was definitely a compliment for the club,” Lapierre said.

And with playing for the top spot in the division comes interest from others on and around the league. Scouts have approached Lapierre for at least three of the players in his team. His own son Hunter Lapierre has also been invited to try out with another club to play throughout the winter.

In the coming weeks, PFC management will look ahead at 2009 and discuss coaching positions and teams. Now that the club has grown to five teams it truly provides an opportunity for players who are brought up through the North Leeds Minor Soccer Association to continue to play locally.

Lapierre agrees. “We have got some really good talent coming up and if we can even get more of a turn out you’ll see the club grow and become a force out there,” he said.

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