Yukon team places second at USA Cup

Not even a loss in the final could take away from a stellar week-long tournament for the Yukon's U-18 Canada Summer Games boys' team.

Not even a loss in the final could take away from a stellar week-long tournament for the Yukon’s U-18 Canada Summer Games boys’ team.

Competing in the Schwan’s USA Cup’s U-19 gold division, the territory’s only squad placed second in the ‘A’ playoff group.

The second place showing ended an incredible run for the Yukon team that included three straight wins and two consecutive playoff shutouts.

The Yukoners lost their final contest 3-1 to Cruz Azul, a Minneapolis team.

“It was pretty exciting right until the end, but we couldn’t score on our chances and made some mistakes in the back,” said Yukon Canada Summer Games coach Jake Hanson about the final. “We ended up winning not the biggest cup, but a pretty good sized cup anyway, so the guys were pretty happy.”

Before the week-long tournament, the Yukon boys competed in the top division at a three day weekend contest.

Despite playing well in the weekend competition, the boys found themselves still looking for their first win, heading into the first game of the week-long challenge.

A 10-0 romp of IGH Heat ended the team’s winless drought. In it’s first contest, the squad had four players score a pair of goals and two that put in one each, Hanson said.

Yukoner Stephen Dynes got the ball rolling around 25 minutes into the contest, running nearly the entire length of the field before making a nice shot to give his team a 1-0 lead.

“Once the guys got the first one, than the rest came pretty quickly,” Hanson said.

“They were excited to have a game where they had lots of success and were able to get a win.”

The squad dropped its next game against a team that ended up going undefeated the whole tournament.

The Yukoners lost 3-2 to Cruz Azul, getting goals from both Ryan Dragonman and Harrison Ewing.

“We played a very good team, so we weren’t overly disappointed about the loss, but knew we needed to win the next day to get into the A flight,” Hanson said. “That made for some pretty good excitement.”

Needing a victory to lock down a spot in the ‘A’ playoff division, the Yukoners took on Alexandria Area Soccer in its final round robin contest.

The Canada Summer Games boys found themselves trailing 1-0 within the first five minutes, but a goal by Harrison Ewing before the half tied it up at 1-1.

The Yukon squad enjoyed its first lead in the second, thanks to a goal by Walker Ewing and the third marker that was put in by Dynes for some added insurance.

A 2-0 quarter final win, put the Yukoners in a match against a Mexican squad in a contest that was televised and could be seen on the internet. 

The Yukoners ended up winning 3-0 win, scoring its nicest goal of the tournament in first half. The game winner was put in by C.J.  Reaume, who converted on a set piece, corner kick, heading it into the far post. The Yukoners added two more in the second half.

Walker Ewing scored the Yukon’s only goal in its final against Cruz Azul.

The Yukoners finished the tournament with 21 goals for and only seven against.