U17 Celtic boys go 0-2 at Provincial Soccer League weekend in PA

Home field advantage wasn’t enough for the Prince Albert Youth Soccer Association’s U17 Celtic boys this weekend.

The Celtics opened the Saskatchewan Soccer Association’s Provincial Soccer League (PSL) season with a pair of losses, falling 2-1 to Saskatoon North on Friday and losing to Regina’s QC United on Sunday.

“I think as a whole they got better as the two games went on, however they still have some mental breakdowns, they just get caught watching the game instead of what their duties are on the field,” head coach Rod McKay said, adding that his team was missing a pair of core players who were unable to compete on the weekend.

In Game 1 Saskatoon came out to an early one-goal lead, doubling the score a few minutes later to lead PA 2-0 at intermission.

“This is a first for a lot of my players,” McKay said after the match.

“They haven’t played in this league before and they didn’t know what the expectations were and so it was a big learning curve. But I think as the game progressed … they settled down and started to play a little bit more disciplined.”

The Celtics had a stronger showing in the latter half of the game, scoring on a penalty shot to get on the board and ringing the ball of the post later in the game. PA was unable to come back, however, and Saskatoon came away with a 2-1 win.

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