Hundreds of young athletes took to the soccer fields in Whitehorse over the weekend, for the McDonald's Yukon cross-field championships.

The championships featured three divisions nine-and-under, 10-and-under and 11-and-under and in the finals on Saturday and Sunday, the action was fast and furious.

In the gold medal match for nine-and-under it was The Deli 2 edging out WHTV 2-1 in a real nail biter, with the Deli claiming victory on a penalty kick.

Deli coaches Mike Burnett and Jordan Davignon would like to thank the referees on the weekend for doing a great job, as well as sponsors Sandra and Ralph Wohlfarth for their support.

The biggest story of the weekend was perhaps the Boston Pizza U-9 team, which hadn't won a game all season heading into the final tournament. BP finished first in their division after the round-robin, and just narrowly missed out on the bronze medal in a 2-1 squeaker with Alcan Air.

'I'm not exactly sure why we weren't winning all year and they really came on for the playoffs, but I think they got a little more pumped up,' said Boston Pizza head coach Mike Gaw. 'It was great. We had a very good effort from the whole team.

'Once they won the first game, it was just amazing to see their faces. To go from not winning at all to fourth place in the tournament, we were pretty pleased.'

Gaw called the wins 'deserved,' pointing out it wasn't that the team wasn't working hard all year, they just couldn't put it all together until this past weekend. He said as much as he's always preached that winning isn't everything, that it's sometimes good to lose so you can 'see the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow,' the kids on his team learned just as much from that crucial first victory.

Qualita Cleaners cleaned house in the U-10 division, going undefeated through the round-robin portion of the tournament. Saturday's games were played under sunny skies and by late in the day, the heat was taking a toll on all players.

Playing as a team proved valuable as Qualita got goals from just about everyone to win the four games they played.

The first game Saturday against Wintemute Electric was a close battle as Qualita was off to a 4-1 lead, but Wintemute kept pressing until the final whistle and nearly tied the game with shots that went off the post and cross-bar of Qualita's net. The final score was 4-3 for Qualita, which got goals from Graham Mainer-Pearson, Gage Preece and Travis Banks (two).

The next game for Qualita was against AON Reed Stenhouse, with the final score 4-2 again in favour of the Cleaners. Scoring for Qualita was Heather Clarke, Talia Woodland, Travis Banks and Graham Mainer-Pearson.

Winning this game assured the cleaning crew first place in the A division of the round-robin. They played the second place team in the B division, Dandelion Dental, in the semifinal, and things kept rolling for Qualita as Travis Banks recorded a hat trick and Nolen Wellspring and Gage Preece each scored once to lead their team to a 5-1 victory.

Finally, they took on East West Health Centre for the gold. It seemed that East West's overtime game against Wintemute in the semis may have tuckered them out, as after falling behind 2-0 they could not mount a sustained attack.

The final score was 5-2 for Qualita, with goals coming from five different players Heiko Nyland, Tyler Koonen, Gage Preece, Travis Banks and Graham Mainer-Pearson.

'Basically we worked on using the space of the field and trust in each other all season and it really payed off in the tournament,' said Qualita coach Keith Clarke. 'Kids needed to go to open space and our guys needed to chip the ball to the open space trusting that our guy or girl was going to be there. We scored some goals where our five players all touched and passed the ball without the opposition contacting it once. It is really neat to have kids like Travis and Graham and Gage, with skills to be able to score when presented with chances, but somebody has to get them the ball.'

Clarke said athletes like Casey Durell never gave up and hustled all over playing great defense while Wellspring and Cody Park shared the bulk of the goaltending duties and were very aggressive, challenging the shooter and making big saves all tournament long.

'Trust was evident in how many players scored in the tournament,' he said. 'It was really spread around with kids like Tyler Koonen, Talia Woodland and Heather Clarke scoring huge goals for us and not hesitating to get involved in defensive plays.

'All in all, it was a well-earned gold medal and Qualita Cleaners will get to display the trophy for the next year.'

In the U-11 division, it was Snap On Tools walking away with the championship, after an exciting battle with Yukon Registered Nurses Association.

Duffy's Pets ended up with the bronze after defeating Intersport in their final match.

'It was just a great tournament,' said Gaw. 'It always is. This is my fifth year of being involved now and the volunteers do such a great job, especially Hanne (Hoefs). She puts in so much time and effort. When you walk into her office at this time of year, it's just pandemonium. I don't know how she keeps it all together.'

Hoefs, who is the coordinator of the Whitehorse Minor Soccer Association, will have one more hectic week when the McDonald's Yukon full-field championships are held in Whitehorse June 24-26.

Thursday's Results

15-and-under Coed Soccer

RE/MAX 5

Dana Naye Ventures 3

Sam Kumar netted four goals for RE/MAX as they downed Dana Naye Ventures.

Dylan Griffiths added a single for the realty crew.

Michael Fisher, Kye Durrell and Zach Young found the back of the net for Dana Naye.

The MVP for RE/MAX was Michelle Dawson while the MVP for Dana Naye was Sam Ferguson.

Norline Coaches 9

Alcan Adjusters 1

Alex McDougall recorded a hat trick for Norline Coahes as they overpowered Alcan Adjusters.

Ted Stephens and Aaron Holway tacked on two goals apiece for Norline while Johnathan Lowey and Afshin Amiritabar also hit the twine.

The MVP for Norline was Kelsey Kabanak while the MVP for Alcan was Emily Bouchard.

Wednesday's Results

12-and-under Coed Soccer

Medicine Chest Pharmacy 1

Kilrich Industries 0

Chris Vance provided the only offence Medicine Chest Pharmacy would need as they blanked Kilrich Industries.

The MVP for Medicine Chest was Donald Fortune while the MVP for Kilrich was Brendan Au.

Mic Mac Toyota 4

MacKay LLP 0

Trevor Hanna picked up three goals for Mic Mac Toyota as they shut out MacKay LLP.

Brad Gustafson added a marker for Mic Mac.

The MVP for Toyota was Colton Cowley while the MVP for MacKay was Justin Kreft.

Versatile Rentals Plus 5

The Deli 2

Scoring came from all corners for Versatile Rentals Plus as they denied the Deli.

Jake Jacobs, Tayo Dickson, Aubin Nunez, Henry Kedziora and Cameron Weeks booted goals for Versatile.

Mac Potter and Robbie Borud kicked in markers for the Deli.

The MVP for Versatile was Brittany Banks while the MVP for MacKay was Stephanie Pike.