Dawson City won the U13 Boys division at the Yukon Outdoor Soccer Championships. The tournament was held June 24-26 at F.H. Collins, Vanier, and Christ the King Elementary. It featured U7, U9, U11 and U13 age groups.

The U13 Boys bronze medal game featured the Whitehorse United FC Teams 3 versus 4.

The score was close at halftime, with Team 4 leading 2-1.

They pulled away in the second half and held a 5-1 lead before Team 3’s Tom Vollmer made it 5-2. However, Shamus Inglis replied for Team 4.

The final score ended up 7-2 for Team 4.

Sarah Pumphrey coached the winning team.

“It’s fun. They played really well. Both teams played great,” she said.

As for the keys to victory for Team 4, “they played their positions really well. They passed the ball. They played as a team,” related Pumphrey.

Pumphrey said Team 3 played amazing.

“Both teams played super-strong. They both showed up all weekend, played their hearts out, hot weather, hot down here on the turf and they just smashed it out.

“And Yukon style, they were super-super gracious with each other the whole way through, helping each other up when they were falling down and so it’s just good to see. Good sportsmanship all around.

She added “They play to have fun. They leave it on the field.”

Matt Ball coached Team 3.

“It was fine. It’s always good and the kids tried really hard and it was really hot out here today.”

Ball said he was happy with the overall play.

“These are developing kids so they’re playing in different positions and getting into different areas in the field and understanding the whole field of play. They played great.”

The U13 Boys gold medal game featured the Dawson City FC team against Whitehorse United FC Team 2.

Dawson raced out to a 3-0 halftime lead.

They eventually built their lead to 5-0 before Whitehorse United FC finally got on the board.

The game was dominated by Dawson’s Maze Andrei Clemente, who scored at least five goals.

Dawson built up their lead to 7-1, with Clemente finally being subbed off. It quickly became apparent why Dawson left Clemente out on the pitch that long, as Whitehorse United mounted a furious comeback, spearheaded by Cullen Sias.

He scored two to make it 7-3, but Dawson answered back with one of their own.

Whitehorse United came back with two more of their own, including another goal by Sias. However, the comeback came up short, with Dawson City FC prevailing 8-5.

Clemente was asked the secret to his success.

“Honestly it’s just riling up the teammates and motivating yourself too and just hours and hours of practice outside.”

Clemente has been playing for quite a while.

“I have been, yep, ever since I was about six.”

Clemente just turned 14.

He said it feels really good to represent Dawson City.

Clemente added that he wasn’t expecting to do this well.

“Honestly, I had no idea. I didn’t want to get my hopes up; didn’t want to be too cocky or too confident.”

Whitehorse United FC coach Jim Sias commented on the furious comeback that fell just a little short.

It was a good comeback. I’m proud of them. It was a good game. We got down for a bit, more than we wanted to but the boys showed some resiliency, came back and made a game of it.”

Sias didn’t like the odds of his team coming back from such a big deficit.

“I knew we were out of time. When it went to 7-2, I didn’t think we had enough time to come back but they popped three close ones in there real quick so it gave me hope. I thought we were gonna pull it out but just a little too much of a lead.”

“Dawson’s always a powerful team. They always come down here with a good team. They’re well coached – we knew it was going to be tough – we spotted them a little too much of a lead,” he added.

Sias agreed that Maze Clemente was the difference.

“Number 16, Maze, he’s a beast. I really feel like we outplayed them, as far as a team, I think we had more chances and ... we couldn’t handle him. We tried two, three people on him and he’s still getting through – he’s awesome. He’s a great player. Hats off to him. Hats off to the team.”

“He was their strongest player by far and when he finally subbed off there, we had our chances to come back a bit.”

Sias added “I’m just really proud of the boys. I think they did great ... I think they played well as a team. They were moving the ball, working as a team, I’m proud of them. It was a great tournament.”

Needless to say, Dawson City FC coach Wayne Potoroka was pleased with his team’s effort.

“I think it went really well. This is a group of young people who enjoy playing with each other. They love the game of soccer and they love hanging out with this group of kids so it shows up on the field.

“Soccer’s huge in Dawson. This is all we do all winter and in fact, we’ll play indoor until thy kick us out of the school gym and make us play outdoor. And then we’ll play outdoor until it’s too cold to play outside and then we’ll go indoors.

“I thought if they actually played the way I know that they’re capable of playing and they had fun, which is so important in playing well, then I thought there’s no reason why they couldn’t do well at this tournament.

“And it’s something that they really look forward to as well,” he added.

Regarding Clemente, Potoroka said “He’s here with his sister and his brother and this will probably be the only time that they will ever play in a tournament together so this was pretty special for them ... it’s also really special for us because Maze is an incredible human being. He’s not only just a good soccer player, he’s good at science, he’s good at math, he’s good at academics, he’s good at art and he’s respectful and polite and he’s got all of those tools that you really want to see, not only in an athlete, but in a young person.”

Clemente is considering going to F.H. Collins next year.

“I hope that he comes and plays with us when we have the opportunity to, because we always like to invite Dawson players back but he’s a talented individual in so many different ways and it does show out there how good he actually is,” related Potoroka.

He added “I asked every one of these players to do something this weekend that maybe put themselves a little outside their comfort zones but certainly I asked them to play a role ... and they didn’t let me down.

“I know it’s always easy to focus on that one kid who’s doing really well and filling the back of the net with the balls but it’s like every single one of these kids did something that was asked of them and that’s how you win a tournament.”

All the tourney results can be found at https://yukonsoccer.yk.ca/tournaments/