The Yukon Strikers under-14 girls soccer squad is down but not out.

The girls lost their opening two games at the BMO National Championships U-14 Cup in Moncton, N.B., earlier this week.

The team has a break today after dropping its first match 12-0 to British Columbia and its second match 4-0 to Newfoundland and Labrador yesterday.

The Yukon club has a chance to break into the second tier with a win tomorrow against New Brunswick.

Yukon Strikers girls head coach Tony Gaw said his side has a decent shot at winning a match or two yet.

"We're confident that we're going to do well over the next three games, and we are seriously looking at one or two wins – we feel confident we can do that,” Gaw said.

"The first game was a little tougher; they were quite nervous, and it's tough to play against B.C. first. But they played very well in the second half of that first game and carried it over pretty well into the second game against Newfoundland.”

Newfoundland and Labrador, he noted, were ranked fifth heading into the tournament.

The top four teams in each group advance to play for the top four spots after the group stage.

The second four will fight for fifth through eighth place, which is important for the Yukon because it will improve its ranking for next year's nationals.

"That's what we're striving for, to get into the seventh or eighth spot,” Gaw said, adding that if his squad loses its final group stage game against New Brunswick then the Yukon would have to win its final two games to get second tier status.

"Even if we can get into ninth, it helps us for next year.

"The better we place this year helps whichever team comes next year in this division.”

Not to mention that eighth is a good showing for a region that lacks numbers and game experience.

Such teams have to fight tooth and nail to inch their way up in the national rankings year after year, so that the following year the team won't have to play the big four provinces early on in the tournament: Ontario, Quebec, Alberta and British Columbia.

"Not only do they have a much bigger pool to draw from skill-wise, they have the competition they're playing year-round that prepares them for nationals,” Gaw said.

"And for us it's difficult because we get Outside once or twice a year to B.C. to play some tournaments, but pretty much we play within ourselves. It's hard to get the girls competitive against each other; they really need to play teams of players that they don't know. That's difficult for us in the Yukon.”

In the future, Yukon soccer will have to continue to build its program, Gaw said.

That, too, is an uphill battle.

"It's always going to be a problem because of costs,” he said.

"Our parents pay quite a big burden, getting our players Outside. I suppose a big sponsor would be in our favour to help off-set some of the cost of traveling; and to continue to nurture our relationship with Alaska, because it is less of a cost to travel, and we do play Anchorage and Juneau.”

Nonetheless, the girls have improved over the first two games and are looking to dig in against the host province.

"Losing 4-0 (against Newfoundland) – and really the game was much closer than the score indicated – we did quite well,” Gaw said.

The team practised today to prep for tomorrow's game.

"We'll go over positioning and tactics,” Gaw said of the team meeting before the game.

"The girls are excited,” Gaw said. "It's a lot of fun for them. They are motivated. They understand it's important to win one game, and they're pumped up for it.”

The Yukon Strikers U-14 boys lost their opening game 18-1 against Quebec and their second 12-0 against B.C., and will end their group stage tomorrow against Prince Edward Island.

Yukon's U-16 boys lost their opener 9-0 against Ontario and their second game 10-0 against Manitoba in Vaughn, Ont., while the U-16 girls lost their two openers 15-0 against Alberta and 8-0 against Nova Scotia. Both the girls and guys will play New Brunswick tomorrow.

The U-18 boys lost to Ontario 2-0 at their nationals in St. John's, and lost 6-0 to B.C., and will play Nova Scotia tomorrow to round out the group stage.