If the past two tournaments were any indication, the Yukon's U-18 girls soccer team should be hoping to draw Alberta at the 2009 Canada Summer Games.

The group capped a 10-day Alberta road trip with a stay in Edmonton where they placed first at the Sherwood Park District Soccer Association outdoor tournament.

This was the second tournament the group has won this year in the province.

"We won the indoor tournament there as well, so we have had some success in Edmonton," said team head coach John MacPhail.

The first tournament on the road trip was in Calgary, where the squad finished second. However, the first contest of the this past weekend's competition was played Saturday morning. The Yukoners went up against a tough squad from Camrose, who held a slim 2-1 with 18 minutes left in the second half.

Realizing the importance of every game, MacPhail changed tactics, pushing up five mid-fielders. The plan worked to perfection and the Yukoners netted two more goals, winning 3-2.

MacPhail said it was a nice way to begin the tournament, especially considering the tournament featured a six-team cross over to the final, which he suspected meant that wins were needed in both round-robinmatches.

The Summer Games team's first match also got the attention of a coach on Camrose, who ended up phoning the Lethbridge College's women's head coach.

The following game, a 5-0 Yukon win, not only qualified the team for Sunday's final, but also identified four girls that were recognized by the college soccer instructor.

MacPhail didn't want to give out any names and plans on talking to them on Thursday.

Sunday's final was also fairly one-sided and included the girls taking a 2-0 lead into the second half and then adding two more, winning 4-1.

MacPhail said the squad accomplished everything it wanted to on the 10-day trip.

"What we want to do is get a lot of games and learn how to prepare ourselves for each game and that's something we can't do up here very often," he said. "The winning was a bonus and the winning was something we were hoping to do. And seeing our competition we knew we could."

Besides game play, the Yukoners also benefited from team building exercises that included a whitewater rafting trip and watching the Edmonton Eskimos take on the Montreal Alouettes.

The group practised with Alberta soccer coach Leo McAndry as well.

The U-18 girls squad was also battling some injuries heading into its final tournament in Alberta, but MacPhail was pleased about how all of his players took part, saying it shouldn't be an issue at the Summer Games.

He said all of the players on the team got lots of playing time as a result of them having a comfortable lead in two of the three games.

"When you go up 3-0 you can start throwing in some of the other kids," he said. "We kind of always had that philosophy that we try and get everyone as much playing time as possible, but the Canada Games that will change a little bit."

The Yukon girls have a tough draw for the first couple of matches at the Summer Games. The team starts off against Ontario, before taking on Saskatchewan.

"We get Ontario and Saskatchewan," MacPhail said. "When we are playing them an upset would be a lot of fun, but the reality is we will set realistic goals and try and get through that part of it."

He added a win over a province would be the ultimate goal at the Canada Summer Games and the team has its sights set on P.E.I. or New Brunswick.

After playing Saskatchewan and Ontario there will be a cross-over round, which might result in a match against one of the Maritimes' teams.

MacPhail said his squad will attempt to schedule a women's soccer game before leaving for the Canada Summer Games on Aug. 14, but admitted that might be tough to accomplish.

He added they will continue to practice, including four training sessions with McAndry, who is coming up this weekend.

The Canada Summer Games are scheduled for the final two weeks of August in P.E.I.