Saturday, July 13, 2019 ~ LANGFORD
by Mary Brooke ~ West Shore Voice News
Today’s match between Pacific FC and Forge FC at Westhills Stadium in Langford brought upbeat energy to the field on a warm, humid July 13 afternoon.
Of the 2,604 people in attendance at today’s game, the first 700 ticket holders at the gate got a free pair of purple Pacific FC sunglasses.
No goals in the first half may have stirred up some steam in the coaches and team, because after the half-time there were five goals achieved — two by Pacific FC (Terran Campbell at 49 minutes with Blake Smith assist; and Victoria Blasco at 85 minutes with Ben Fisk assist) and three by Forge FC (Tristan Borges at 47 minutes with Kyle Bekker assist; Emery Welshman at 54 minutes with Tristan Borges assist; and Tristan Borges at 79 minutes with Kadell Thomas assist) to claim the game.
Pacific FC Coach Michael Silberbauer said after the game: “We had a plan but we have to chase the game. The guys finished the game strong but it’s a little bit too late. We played a little bit into their hands.”
Down 3-2 with 15 minutes to go, on that Silberbauer said: “We’re still creating chances, we kept going forward and creating chances.”
Goalkeeper Nolan Wirth said the Pacific FC team is “taking it game by game”. Making a strong performance on the field today and saving a few Forge FC attempts from becoming goals but acknowledging the game loss, Wirth said: “We’re keeping high spirits, it’s there, we’ve shown potential and moments. It’s about finding consistency for that full 90 minutes.”
“We were too exposed, we should have played it a little safer,” said Wirth. “But they did their job after the mistake, that’s all we can ask.”
Central Midfielder Victor Blasco said: “We lost, but we have another game on Saturday (July 20), and no other choice than to keep our head up and get the next win.” He added that injuries on the Pacific FC team is something they have to deal with.
“One of the things we have is heart,” said Blasco. “But mistakes cost us. As a group we need to focus on the negatives and improve on those. We’re young and we still need to learn and get back very quick, there’s no breaks here,” said Blasco. “We need to adjust a couple of things,” he concluded.
Terran Campbell in his role as a Forward achieved a goal in this game against Forge FC, and also a goal last week against Cavalry FC — both times will a blast of energy that surprised the crowd. What was he looking to achieve? “Anything I can contribute. Obviously we were down and needed goals,” said Campbell. “I was able to get my head level of energy was brought by the team to today’s game. “Coach told us to just work really hard,” said Campbell.
Forge FC coach Bobby Smyrniotis told media that the winning result came primarily because they stuck to the game plan from the beginning of the game. “We played a lot of opportunities, more than we usually have,” said Smyrniotis.
“We wanted the guys to be patient and keep doing that. But we could have been better in the last 15 minutes and take Pacific’s foot off the gas. They started attacking us,” Smyrniotis said.
There were eight shots with three producing goals. “We need to be sharper and get that first goal,” said the Forge FC coach.
