Three close gold medal games highlighted the Subway Soccer 2009 Yukon Outdoor Cross-field Championships.

Two of the three needed penalty kicks to decide a winner, while the U-9 final was decided in regulation, but by just one goal.

It was a fantastic weekend to put on the soccer tournament, hosted at Vanier School Catholic Secondary School.

The enthusiasm was shown on the faces of players, coaches, referees and spectators.

The weather didn't give organizers any trouble either.

U-9 Division

The second half of the game must have felt twice as long as the first for players on Peak Fitness in the U-9 championship game.

The team was able to hang on after scoring midway through the first in its contest against a determined Intersport squad.

The final score was 1-0.

Dylan Cozens was a big part of the win for Peak Fitness. Not only did he net the team's lone goal, but Cozens was also a wall in goal during the play in the second half.

"He was rock in goal the second half," Peak Fitness' coach Paul Kishchuk said about Cozen's play.

His goal was scored after he out-ran Intersport's defenders on a play that started half way down the field. Making no mistake, Cozen's fired a perfect shot into the back of the net just past the outstretched hands of goaltender Josh Stevens.

Peak Fitness' goalie Dylan Kindervater preserved his team's 1-0 for the rest of the half.

Kishchuk didn't have to say a whole lot to his players in the intermission.

"They are a great group of kids and really through the year I let the game be their coach," he said.

The victory helped avenge a 3-1 loss against Intersport on Saturday.

Kishchuk said his team was a little more settled down in Sunday's final.

"We sort of got through a lot of the emotion yesterday and today we just played solid," he said. "Everybody played really well positionally."

Despite not winning the gold medal game, Intersport coach Nils Clarke was really pleased with the way his team played this season.

"It was a great accomplishment and we probably had four or five players that consistently scored, so it wasn't just a one-man machine on our team," he said.

"The scoring was quite balanced. I thought we played quite cleanly and good sportsmanship."

He said one of the players that stood out was Lukas Jirousek.

"I think from his hockey background, he's very dogged," Clarke said. "He has a great attitude, doesn't complain and is quite skilled."

The U-9 bronze medal went to All Terrane Exploration Services, which won in a shootout against Envirolube. This was a close game that could have gone either way.

U-10 Division

The U-10 division was also very close as the team from Dawson needed extra time to beat Home Sweet Home to get into the semi-finals and then went on to capture the gold medal over Murraya Dental later that day.

Dawson City, Trondek Hwechin played a very hard fought game over Murraya who battled equally as hard and had a second half goal to tie the game at one apiece before the end of regulation.

The bronze went to Yukon News who barely got by Home Sweet Home with a 2-1 victory.

U-11 Division

Another tight battle for first saw Surgical Incision win another penalty shootout against Sit Easy Office Furniture. The score was tied 1-1 after regulation and overtime.

The fans for Sit Easy were loud and boisterous and pushed the team along but the medical staff prevailed in the end.

Sit Easy players were not too sad to take the silver as they played an equally outstanding game.

The bronze medal went to Northern Denture Clinic who beat White Pass.

White Pass put on a valiant effort at the end scoring a late goal to get within one but the Denture crew hung on for a well-deserved victory.

The Yukon Soccer Association was grateful to its new sponsor Subway for their generous support, to Stan Dorosz for all his work in lining the fields, setting up the nets and collecting the gear at the end of the tourney, to Kim King for all her help in organizing the tournament and the referees.

The tournament also featured a number of youth referees, who at 12 and 13 years old did an outstanding job that was commented by many of the coaches.