The Pearl River Soccer Club sent several teams to the state tournament last weekend and had two squads that represented the club in the finals.

PRSC’s U15-U16 team lost 5-2 in the finals, the U14 coed team lost 4-0 in the semifinals and the U12 girls team lost 3-2 in the finals.

Another PRSC team, a U16 squad, represented the central district at the tournament but didn’t make it to the semifinals.

PRSC President Dave Ortmann said that in situations like a state tournament the players aren’t usually affected by the environment, and that was the case for the representing teams given the positive results.

“Kids are pretty relaxed. It’s the parents you have to say, ‘Relax, it’s a kids game let them enjoy it.’ I would imagine leading up to the games and stuff they were a little nervous but then they went out and played,” Ortmann said.

Ortmann is also hoping the good showing at the state tournament will entice more local athletes to join the soccer club.

It’s a painstaking process to build a club, but the hope is to have more and more young athletes join up and become interested in soccer.

Once that base is built the athletes can then spend years in the system, not only improving their skills, but attracting friends, family and neighbors to sign up and start playing soccer.

Having several teams represent the area at the state level, and do so well, could drive growth for the PRSC.

“The U6, U8 and U10 teams you have to really sell. I had a brief discussion with coaches that if they’re happy to keep them happy so they say, ‘I want to play soccer again.’ And that’s how you grow your club,” Ortmann said.

Now that the season is officially over, the organization will start planning for the fall.

Registration dates will be determined at the organization’s board meeting next week, and from there it’ll be about getting everything in place as early as possible.

“We’re going to do registration through the summer. Last fall we had a lot of confusion and I told them we’re not doing that this year. Coaches and teams will all be picked by the first two weeks of August before we even start practices,” Ortmann said.