The Yukon Wolves U-14 boys soccer team made history earlier this month at the 2007 Tide Cup national soccer championships in St. John's, Nfld.

Accompanied by head coach Renzo Ordonez, the young athletes made their way to the championships in hopes of gaining some exposure and improving on previous years' rankings by gaining a victory.

After nearly a week of hard-fought action on the field, the Wolves accomplished much more than that. With impressive performances against Saskatchewan, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland, they became the first Yukon soccer team to win three games at the U-14 national championship.

In fact, prior to this year, a Yukon U-14 team had never won a game.

'For the level of soccer (at nationals), we did excellent,' said Ordonez, in an interview earlier this week. 'We played as a team.'

Ordonez said any team from the territory would have trouble with mental preparation prior to the start of a national-level competition, since it's something they aren't accustomed to. Without the same amount of exposure as their competitors, it can be a big factor at the beginning.

That's exactly what he says happened to the Wolves, who were somewhat overwhelmed in their first contest, a 7-0 loss to Quebec.

They were able to regroup for their second game against Saskatchewan, pulling out a 1-0 victory.

'We were lucky because Saskatchewan, they let us play their own game,' explained Ordonez. 'They fell into our trap. We played hard. We set the pace.'

Tayo Adamek booted the winning goal for the Wolves while goalkeeper Thomas Mills recorded the shutout.

Next up, the Wolves took on Nova Scotia and lost 3-1. While it was a close match, Ordonez said the Yukoners made too many mistakes, which cost them the victory.

'It was disappointing for me as a coach,' he said, adding Nova Scotia was a team he thought they could beat.

Jack Lanigan provided the lone goal for the Wolves in that matchup.

The game against Nova Scotia marked the end of the round-robin, and with a record of 1-2, the Wolves were relegated to the consolation round. They had a day off to rest before facing Prince Edward Island.

The rest certainly seemed to help, as the Wolves came out strong and ended up downing the island squad 3-1. Yukon goals were scored by Tyson Baxter, with a pair, and Ale Adamek.

'Again, we played well as a team, moved the ball around and created opportunities,' said Ordonez.

With the win, the Wolves earned the right to play the host team from St. John's for ninth place in the overall standings.

Ordonez said the first half of the game was rough for the Yukon team, as they hit the field in rainy and cold conditions, without the proper equipment required to adjust to the weather.

Newfoundland had a 3-0 lead after the first half.

'The second half was our turn, we flipped the coin,' said the coach.

The game was tied 4-4 after Yukon goals by Tayo Adamek (2), Tanner Coyne and Ian Wintemute. Ninth place would be decided on penalty kicks, and the Wolves were able to edge the team from Newfoundland in a thriller.

'It was very exciting,' stated Ordonez. 'I was so very, very proud of the guys.'

Ordonez has been coaching the same core group of young athletes for two years, since they took a gold medal about two years ago at a tournament in British Columbia.

'It's a very strong team. They have a lot of technique. But most important, they play as a team. There's not just one star player.

'I tell them, Sure, it's nice to have your name in the newspaper, but it's even nicer to have your team's name (in the paper).' And it's worked well for us.'

Teamwork was also a big factor in the success of three other Yukon rep soccer teams which travelled to national championships this month.

The U-14 girls' squad, the Wildfire, travelled to Newfoundland for the Tide Cup and ended up with a victory under their belt.

The Wildfire were shut out in their first two contests against powerhouses Quebec and British Columbia, 6-0 and 8-0 respectively. New Brunswick proved to be a much closer opponent, but after an impressive performance, the Wildfire still found themselves on the wrong end of a 2-0 score.

In the consolation round, the Wildfire blanked Prince Edward Island 1-0 in a tough defensive battle. Brandi Scobie scored for the Yukon while goalkeeper Jenna Blanchette earned the shutout.

For their final game of the championships, the Wildfire faced New Brunswick again, this time for ninth place in the standings. Despite another great defensive effort by the Wildfire, New Brunswick took the game 1-0 and the Yukoners had to settle for 10th place overall.

Meanwhile, a little bit closer to home, the territory's U-16 squads were competing at the Adidas Cup in Sherwood Park, Alta.

The majority of players on both the boys' and girls' teams had just recently been in Sherwood Park for the 2007 Western Canada Summer Games, where they played on the same fields.

Head coach John MacPhail and the Northern Blazers girls headed to nationals with the goal of winning two games one against the rival Northwest Territories and one against a provincial counterpart.

'We thought maybe the maritimes were beatable on a good day for us,' explained MacPhail. 'We were hoping we would see P.E.I. in the consolation round, but we didn't.'

The Blazers started out well against Manitoba, managing to keep themselves in the game during a 3-0 loss.

MacPhail knew his team would be in tough for their second game against Quebec, and the Blazers ended up falling 12-1. They rebounded for a tighter matchup with Nova Scotia, but would finish the round-robin 0-3 after a 4-1 loss.

'Nova Scotia is always fairly strong,' said MacPhail. 'A girl from Nova Scotia ended up winning the Golden Boot (award for top scorer) this year. She scored three of their four goals against us.'

In the consolation round, the Northern Blazers' first opponent was the Northwest Territories, which had manages to beat the hometown St.John's Capitals 1-0 during the round-robin.

That would be the N.W.T.'s only victory, as the Yukon prevailed in their playoff 1-0.

Looking to move up a notch in the rankings to ninth place, the Blazers took on the St. John's Capitals but MacPhail said his team struggled.

'The last game against Newfoundland was awful for us. But they were better than I thought they were going to be, actually. They must have had a bad game against the N.W.T.'

Overall, MacPhail was pleased with the Blazers' effort. He was particularly impressed with goaltender Nadine Poirier. Poirier spent a lot of time in goalie clinics before heading to nationals, as well as doing some work with Yukon Selects' goalkeeper George Maratos, and it paid off.

'She played really well,' said the coach. 'That gave her a lot more confidence.'

MacPhail, assistant coach Danielle Lang and the members of the Blazers were able to see the U-16 boys, the Grizzles, play in Sherwood Park as well.

The Grizzlies, coached by Arthur Mills, finished the round-robin with an 0-3 record after losses to Quebec (6-0), British Columbia (9-1) and Manitoba (2-1).

In the consolation round, they downed the Northwest Territories 1-0 before falling to Newfoundland and Labrador 3-0 to finish 10th overall.

'At the banquet, someone mentioned it's good to see the Yukon and N.W.T. have some success at these tournaments now,' said MacPhail. 'So that was nice. They recognize we are improving.'

Ordonez agreed the Yukon Soccer Association program is improving, and so are all of the teams. He said a lot of people down south are surprised by it.

'We aren't playing on frozen fields like they think we are. I tell them as a joke, Yeah, we go on the Yukon River and play there. We play in long johns,'' he laughs. 'But really I explain to them, we have good facilities here.

'In the future, there is no way Yukon is going to be behind. We are improving a lot.'

Still, Ordonez is adamant soccer teams in the territory need better financial support if they are going to continue making headway.

'We need more tournaments outside the territory. Practice is good, but games are much better. We need funding, we need sponsors. We need support from the community.'