The under-16 boys soccer squad will focus on ball possession and defensive discipline to steal some points against the county's top teams during the BMO National Championships in Vaughn, Ont., from October 6-11.

Stacking up against powerhouses Ontario, Quebec, Alberta and British Columbia is a challenge for any territory or small province, but the Yukon side will look to draw from its experience at the USA Cup, held in Minnesota earlier this year, and a recent visit from Ontario's U-17 head coach and Canada's U-17 assistant coach Patrick Tobo.

The Yukon team, formed for nearly a year now, practices twice each week and goes up against local clubs, sometimes the U-18s, sometimes the U-14s.

But that competition will fall short of what the boys will see at nationals.

"Bigger places like Ontario and Quebec, they have very strong teams,” striker Kurtis Hills said, "and it's something we can't compete with, but we compete with a lot of the east coast teams, sometimes NWT's there, and we've even had a team beat Saskatchewan.”

Hills has competed at nationals before, as a member of the U-14 Yukon team, and currently squeezes in a few extra games a month with the Selects club.

But his focus over the next month is with his U-16 team.

"You try and get a base squad,” Hills said. "I think we've had a solid squad since the beginning of April.”

Because of the sparse base, the U-16s have had to join with the younger boys, 15-year-olds, which means roughly seven players are actually 16 years old.

"But they're strong players, a lot of them bigger than me, they play very well and we play well together,” Hills said.

The Yukon drew Ontario, Manitoba and New Brunswick in the first round.

Head coach Arnold Hedstrom knows the competition will be stiff if his side wants to get into a good position in the next round.

"But if we take in an attitude and a feeling that we can compete, that we can score goals and defend, then we'll get what I would consider to be respectable results,” Hedstrom said.

"The focus in training right now is to really make sure that we are retaining possession of the ball, that we're hitting our players. Technically, I'm looking for accuracy and good receiving of the ball.”

The majority of players heading to nationals competed in Minnesota earlier this summer, when they won four of their eight games in the silver division.

At the U-16 level, players are born in 1993-1994, Hedstrom explained, and most of his team were born in 1994-1995.

That's a two-year age gap for some players, he pointed out.

"That's been our main competitive experience leading up to nationals – the Minnesota tournament is highly competitive,” Hedstrom said.

"I think that's what we brought back from Minnesota, is that we can be competitive, and it's what I'd like to see us carry into the national tournament.”

Hedstrom also pointed out that Hills scored 14 of the Yukon's 16 goals in Minnesota.

The team needs to find other offensive opportunities if the territory is going to compete against sides like Ontario and Manitoba, he added.

"In Kurtis, in particular, we have a player who's extremely fast and strong up front and can out-leg lots and lots of players in any division; but your attack has to be more creative than a pitch-and-run; we need to possess the ball, work it into the corners and then play to the centre of the field for scoring opportunities, because if they shut down our main threat, then we need other options,” Hedstrom said.

"On the defensive side we've just been trying to make sure that we're compact, that we're disciplined, so that our back line is constantly pressuring and stepping up the level of our game.”

Over the weekend the U-16s beat an U-15 Juneau side 8-0 over the weekend, and will face off against the U-18s tonight at F.H. Collins field.