Photo by Photo submitted
CHAMPS 鈥� The Yukon Junior Selects struck gold at the Alaska Airlines Cup in Anchorage over the weekend. Pictured at back, from left: Andrew Roberts, Ben Kishchuk, Jason Sealy. In front, from left: Lowell DeCook, Callum Weir, Rhys Faragher, Joe Hanson, Ashton Bryant, Kaelen Lewis and Andreas Lavanderos (top). A CLOSE SECOND 鈥� Kyle Risby, centre, works to control the ball for the Yukon Senior Selects in the senior final. Photos courtesy of ANNE MILTON
It was an impressive showing for the territory at the Alaska Airlines Cup in Anchorage last weekend.
It was an impressive showing for the territory at the Alaska Airlines Cup in Anchorage last weekend.
The Yukon Junior Selects struck gold in the tournament's youngest age group, and the Senior Selects just missed out on doing the same, losing in the final of the open men's division.
This was the juniors second outdoor tournament of the year, following up a strong third-place performance at the Whitecaps FC Cup in Vancouver in April.
The team went undefeated en route to winning the Under-11 crown, dominating all six of their games with an aggregate score of 41-4.
The Junior Selects beat Alaska Rush 7-1 in the final Sunday.
"As far as the win goes, it was exciting,鈥� said coach Jake Hanson. "This team is obviously very strong 鈥� a real talented group of boys.
"The kids felt very good about their results and play at the Alaska Airlines Cup, as did coaches. They played extremely well for their age, already managing many aspects of the game. There was certainly some great individual play at times from all players, but it was probably the way they controlled the games and play as a team that was most positive.鈥�
The club began their tournament Friday with a pair of wins, shutting out Alaska's Eclipse Phoenix 7-0 and thrashing Alaskan club Kenai Peninsula Thunder 11-1.
The team's strong round-robin play continued Saturday, as they downed Alaska Rush 5-0 and Cook Inlet Velocity 5-2.
That set up Sunday's playoffs, where the Yukoners shut out Eclipse Phoenix again 6-0 before the gold-medal match.
Andreas Lavanderos and Hanson's son Joe shared the team scoring lead, with eight goals each. Meanwhile, keeper Callum Weir picked up four shutouts.
Joe Hanson, the team's captain, relieved Weir for one half and was scored on, while Weir went on to bury one of his own into the opposing mesh.
The Junior Selects' next event will probably be a Vancouver tournament this fall, coach Hanson said.
The Senior Selects were unable to make it a Yukon sweep, dropping the final game 3-1 to Alaska United, the only team they had lost to in the round robin.
The men started their tournament with a 6-0 blowout over the Alaska-based Eclipse Phoenix on Friday, and followed that up by posting two more shutouts Saturday.
The Selects defeated the Alaska-based Soccer Guns 1-0 and the Alaska Rush 3-0.
On Sunday, the Yukon club dropped their final round-robin match 1-0 to Alaska United, before setting up a rematch of that game in the final.
"The senior men's team had a great weekend as well, performing very well and getting some good results,鈥� said Hanson, who also coaches this team. "Our men's program has been very strong for a long time now, but with a particularly young, mostly Under-23 crew at the moment.鈥�
Hanson said the future looks good for the young, but experienced, senior team.
"These guys have a lot of good experience, most representing the Yukon as youth players at Arctic Winter Games, Canada Summer and Western Canada Games and club nationals,鈥� he said. "Many have, or are starting to play Outside and at college so the outlook is very positive for this group as well.鈥�
Eight senior Yukon players were joined by four guests from Fairbanks and two high schoolers from Anchorage in order to form a team.
It was one of the guest Fairbanks players that went on to lead the team in scoring for the tournament, said Hanson.
Locals included C.J. Reaume, Robin Stacey, David Ratcliff, Alejandro Pulido, Andreas Hinz, Kyle Risby, Marten Sealy and keeper Theoren Richards.
Richards 鈥� a member of the 2009 Canada Summer Games team 鈥� had three shutouts, while Sealy scored twice, including a penalty kick in the final, to lead the Whitehorse contingent.
There were also a handful of local players suiting up for Alaskan teams at the tournament, including Tyler Milton, Justin Wishart-MacDougall, Malorie Hanson, Jamie Joe-Hudson and Line Jensen.
Malorie Hanson, Joe-Hudson and Jensen starred for Futbol AK in the girls Under-15 division, while Milton suited up for the Under-14 CISC Velocity, and Wishart-MacDougall played for the Under-15 MSC United.
The Alaska Airlines Cup is the largest youth soccer tournament in Alaska. The international tournament features 2,000-plus players and featured an adult division for the first time this year.
The tournament consisted of 14 divisions, ranging from Under-11 to adult.
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Comments (1)
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Paul Fraughton on Jun 7, 2013 at 9:39 am
Great to see the Selects is still providing young players in the Yukon a chance to compete and develop. With Jake Hanson involved, the future is always full of possibilities for anyone with the privilege to wear the jersey. Jake Hanson is easily the best player development coach in Canada, possibly North America. Jake is easily one of the top 5 coaches in Canada: including all professional, university and provincial coaches. Jake's instincts and leadership style are unparallelled. Canadian soccer as a whole is stronger because of coach Hanson and the Selects soccer club he so generously invests his time in.