麻豆社区

The Yukon Strikers finished the U-14 national club soccer championships bruised, but not broken.

Despite finishing winless in a combined 10 games in Lethbridge, Alta., the territory's top boys and girls teams earned valuable experience that will go a long way in terms of their soccer careers.

The girls' squad dropped games to Nova Scotia (13-0), Saskatchewan (4-1), New Brunswick (6-0) and Newfoundland (6-1), but managed to tie Prince Edward Island 0-0.

"If you look at the scores, they don't tell the whole story,鈥� coach Tony Gaw told the Star from Calgary this morning.

While he admitted the club was not ready for their first drubbing against Nova Scotia, he said his team rebounded to offer the Maritime clubs some stiff competition.

While the Strikers started most games tentatively, they were usually keeping pace in the second half.

"Getting to the second half, they kind of had their feet under them and they would start to play,鈥� Gaw explained. "They played excellent in the second half of their last four games.鈥�

Gaw said the majority of his squad was a year younger than their competition, which points to a positive future.

Just three girls 鈥� Isabel Magsucang, Alizee Salesse and Katharina Wirth 鈥� will graduate next season.

"The bulk of the team will return to U-14s next year,鈥� Gaw said. "It's positive moving forward.鈥�

Other good things to take away from the tournament include lots of learning by keepers Magsucang and Jayden Demchuk, and strong play from left defender Alice Frost-Handberg.

Tyra Jones scored both goals for the Yukon by being in the right place at the right time, Gaw added.

Meanwhile, the highlight for the boys' team was a match against P.E.I. that saw them leading 2-1 at the half.

The club would eventually drop the game by a score of 4-2.

The boys also lost to Alberta (18-0), Nova Scotia (13-0), Newfoundland (17-0), and New Brunswick (9-1).

Tyler Milton sniped the Yukon goal against New Brunswick, converting a penalty kick.

"We were 2-2 against P.E.I. until the last 14 minutes,鈥� Strikers head coach John MacPhail said of the match versus the Islanders.

MacPhail said he was happy to see the boys rebound from a 13-0 loss to Nova Scotia with a stronger effort against Newfoundland.

While the scoreline didn't show it 鈥� Newfoundland phenom Emmanuel Dolo sniped eight goals 鈥� MacPhail said it was a much better showing for the northern club.

MacPhail said the team came out flat versus Nova Scotia, and went on to lose 麻豆社区player R.J. Smallwood to a red card after a hard tackle that took away a clear scoring chance.

"Even though we got beat by Newfoundland quite badly, they played as hard as they could,鈥� he said. "They gave everything they had.鈥�

Gaw urged his club to savour the memory, noting most young Canadian players do not have as simple a road to nationals as the Yukon does.

"It's a little different than the bigger provinces because those girls may have to compete against 40, 50, 60 teams to make it,鈥� he explained. "Our girls have more opportunities to get to nationals, so it's a little more difficult for them to understand how special it is.

"You could probably have the best players in Ontario never make it to a nationals because it's a club team (format), not a provincial team. I try to push on them respect for the tournament and the game itself and the competition, because the girls they're playing against have fought very hard to get there. That's something I try to teach them as much as anything else.鈥�