The outcome was well worth the trip for players on Team Juneau at the third annual masters +35 soccer tournament.

The squad finished with a perfect round robin record, going 3-0, before beating Yukon Brewing in the championship game Sunday at the Canada Games Centre

Juneau enjoyed its most successful first half of the three-day competition, scoring five goals in Sunday's final. The group added one more in the second half to cap its 6-1 win.

Sunday's victory marked the first time the Juneau mens' team has finished in the number one spot at the Yukon +35 soccer championship.

"I think we were clicking pretty well," said Juneau captain Pete Schneider.

Among the highlights at this year's tournament was an increase of two teams, bringing the total to eight.

Despite it technically being a +35 men's tournament, the organizers allowed a co-ed team from Whitehorse and a co-ed mixed squad from Juneau/Whitehorse to participate. This increased the total team count to eight.

The two non-Whitehorse teams included a mens' masters group from both Dawson and Juneau. Whitehorse's teams included four +35 men's squads and one co-ed group.

The eight teams were divided into two pools and after the three-game round robin played for either seventh, fifth, third or first.There were no quarter-finals or semi-finals at the masters soccer championship.

Yukon Brewing earned a spot in the final thanks to a 2-1 record, which was good enough for first place in its respective pool.

Unfortunately the Whitehorse-based team was without the services of Justin Carr, one of its best players this past weekend, in the final.

Juneau was quick to take advantage of Carr's absence, getting off to a stellar start in Sunday's final.

The Alaskan squad scored two quick goals in the first five minutes, before adding three more to take a commanding 5-0 lead into the final 22 minutes.

Yukon Brewing generated some applause in the second half thanks to a goal netted by Scott Wood.

Wood fired the ball short-side after being set up on a cross-field pass, cutting Juneau's lead to 6-1.

Towards the end of the contest, Juneau changed its tactics, focusing more on the defensive end.

Despite some scoring chances, Yukon Brewing was unable to beat Juneau goalie Phil Subeldia and the game ended with a 6-1 score.

"These guys won everything," Wood said laughing. "They brought in a very strong squad."

He said Juneau's quick start took the wind out of their sails.

"We wanted to play defensive and then right from the start we realized that wasn't going to work," he said. "So we just threw that plan out the window and gave it everything we got."

Wood said the team missed Carr in Sunday's final.

"(Justin) scored a lot of goals for us," he said. "I am not saying we would have won, but he would have made a significant difference. He's probably the number one reason why we made it first place in our division."

He said it was nice to score the one goal and finishing second wasn't too disappointing.

"We were happy just to make it as far as we did," Wood said. "It was a great weekend, we had a lot of fun."

Arnold Hedstrom was on the winning team in the battle for third place. Hedstrom, who played in the tournament for the first time, said it was a fun championship.

"Even though the teams are all balanced and equal in the draft, it's still got a competitive edge to it," he said. "So I think everybody comes in hoping they will be in the final."

Despite not making it to the final, Hedstrom was still pleased about finishing third.

"You feel better about going out on a win," he said.

Paul Inglis was one of the tournament's organizers this year. He said it was nice to have one of the Yukon communities participate this year.

"We had eight (squads) mostly because the team from Dawson, which was pretty exciting to have a team from one of the communities come in," he said. "It would be great if we could get teams from some of the other communities to come out next year."