Former sa国际传媒 Under-20 and U-17 soccer international Steffen Yeates will be plying his trade at Starlight Stadium as Pacific FC inked the 22-year-old central midfielder to a multi-year Canadian Premier League contract on Wednesday.
Yeates made his Major League Soccer debut with Toronto FC in May and played a combined 31 minutes in two games.
“We see him as a true eight, box-to-box central midfielder,” PFC head coach James Merriman said in a statement. “He’s a player that wants to be on the ball but is also willing to do the work without it. He’s motivated, ambitious and wants to make an impact immediately. He is hungry to further develop and push himself to another level.”
That he did in donning Canadian colours in the 2017 CONCACAF U-17 championship, starting all three games, and scoring and assisting for sa国际传媒 in the 2018 CONCACAF U-20 championship.
Yeates began his NCAA Division 1 career with the University of sa国际传媒icut Huskies before transferring to Corvallis and the Pac-12 Oregon State Beavers. He began his pro career in 2021 with Toronto FC II and scored three goals with four assists in 42 appearances through 2021 and 2022.
Yeates becomes the 13th player signed by Island-based PFC for the 2023 CPL season. Other recent signings have included fourth-season returnee Sean Young, a local product out of the Victoria Highlanders and Island Wave who has steadily worked his way into being a midfield regular over his CPL career. The 21-year-old is already tied for second in franchise appearances with 66.
Merriman said Young “is ready to take the next step when it comes to his impact on our team and the league.”
Also announced recently by PFC was the signing of attacking midfielder Pierre Lamothe from CPL rival HFX Wanderers of Halifax, a former MLS CF Montreal Academy prospect, and a U Sports national champion in 2018 with the Université de Montréal Carabines.
The biggest off-season newcomer signing for PFC has been the lanky, field-stretching forward Easton Ongaro. The loping six-foot-six striker has a taste for the net and scored 25 goals in 55 games for FC Edmonton in three CPL seasons between 2019 and 2021 before joining Vancouver Whitecaps-2 last season in MLS Next Pro, with an MLS call-up to the parent Whitecaps on Aug. 13 against Los Angeles Galaxy.
