Grande Prairie, Alberta
The juvenile females were the only Yukon soccer team that did not start the Arctic Winter Games playing against Nunavut, in Grande Prairie, Alberta on
Sunday.
Instead, the Yukon squad played a team that’s tough to beat: Team Alberta North.
“I personally felt our team met the physical and fitness challenge of Alberta,” said Team Yukon juvenile female coach Arnold Hedstrom. “We ran with them and
were as physical. We ran the full 40 minutes.”
Although the home team adequately controlled the play and took the game with a score of 7-1, it was good to get that inevitably tough match out of the way,
said Hedstrom.
“It wasn’t a bad way to start the tournament; I’m happy to start with Alberta,” he said. “We get the home team – and probably the favourite right now – out of the
way.
“Still, we learned a lot in that game about what we can do when we meet Alberta again, if it comes to that, and what to do against other teams. It was a great
learning experience.”
Down 3-0 at the end of the first half, with Yukon’s Camille Galloway barely missing the net on her team’s best scoring opportunity yet, Yukon picked up the
pace in the second.
“In the second half we adjusted to a few things they were doing,” said Hedstrom. “We tightened up the middle coming out of their end and it gave us a couple
opportunities and prevented a few for them.”
Capitalizing on one these scoring opportunities was Yukon forward Megan Lanigan, taking a mid-field pass from Alexis Miller, to find the bottom corner from 15
yards out for her team’s lone goal.
“I thought we did pretty well, in terms of it being our first game and just coming here,” said Lanigan. “I thought we did well with the score and keeping our spirits
up.”
The majority of Team Alberta North’s players were on the team at last year’s U-14 nationals in Sydney, Nova Scotia, where they finished second. However,
Alberta North’s success in the national tournament and Sunday’s loss is simply water under the bridge for Team Yukon, said Hedstrom.
“I hope we get a chance at them again because I know we can give them a good run,” he said.
Contact Tom Patrick at tomp@yukon-news.com