Close competition at second annual soccer tournament

It was a battle of youth versus experience in the final of the Whitehorse Rapids Oldtimers Invitational Soccer Tournament as the oldest team in the competition squared off against the youngest.

It was a battle of youth versus experience in the final of the Whitehorse Rapids Oldtimers Invitational Soccer Tournament as the oldest team in the competition squared off against the youngest.

Although a valiant effort was given by both teams, it was the Young Guns who were able to notch a goal in the final 10 minutes of the contest to get the 2-1 victory over the Veterans on Sunday at the Canada Games Centre.

“Our team played so well all weekend,” said Young Guns captain Jake Hanson. “I played net most of the time, so I watched it for the most part, but I really enjoyed the good soccer, the good passing and the smart decision-making and ball distribution. The guys and the girls that were on this team were all very good soccer players and played very good, quality soccer.”

This was the second year the tournament was held and it featured six teams. Round robin format was used at the event and competition began on Friday where each team played two games.

Competition in the round robin concluded on Saturday with the six teams playing their remaining three games. Each game in the round robin was comprised of two 18-minute halves.

Four of the six teams were made up of 40 players from the Over 35 Soccer League, using a draft system and selection order made by the team captains.

The other two teams featured a squad from Juneau, AK and the Young Guns, who were assembled three weeks ago to round out the tournament.

The Young Guns were made up of four male players between the ages of 30-35 years old and the rest included some of the best younger female players in Whitehorse.

There was no semi-finals at the tournament and Sunday’s playoff round consisted of the team that finished in first place playing against the second-ranked squad.

The third place group faced the fourth ranked team and fifth ended up playing the sixth placed team. All finals consisted of two 22-minute halves.

Each player on the Young Guns was awarded with a beer mug for the victory, which were all donated by tournament sponsor Yukon Brewing. Teams and players in the remaining finals were playing for bragging rights.

The tournament also featured a banquet on Saturday night, at Mt. McIntyre Recreation Centre. The banquet was a catered event that featured door prizes, a 50/50 draw and a soccer trivia contest.

Some of the changes for this year’s tournament included extending the competition an extra day, so all of the finals could be played on Sunday morning. This decision was based on the results of having too many games played on

Saturday, which resulted in competitors being worn out by the time the final games were played in 2007.

In the battle for first, which was played in front of more than 40 fans, the Veterans scored the opening goal nearing the 12-minute mark. The goal was scored after a nice pace was lobbed to an open player who made no mistake in burying the ball on a low shot that found the corner of the net.

The Young Guns didn’t take long to respond and the team drew even with less than five minutes to go in the opening half. The goal was scored on a hard shot that hit bottom corner of the net.

Both goalies stepped up in the final minutes of the first half and continued their strong play into the second frame, providing each team an opportunity to win the game.

After continued pressure, the Young Guns finally put one by the Veterans netminder.  The game winning tally was scored after a nice cross field pass was made to an open player, who made no mistake in redirecting the ball into the net.

In other playoff results, a late goal by the Rookies wasn’t enough to get back into the contest against Charlie’s Angles. The Angles won by a close 3-2 score to finish in third place.

In the battle for fifth, Team Juneau was able to get its first victory of the tournament, winning against Ivo’s Heroes by a decisive score of 7-2.

With the victory over the Veterans, the Young Guns finished with an overall record of 4-2. The team was 2-2 before a win in the final round robin game qualified them for the first place final.

Hanson said the team improved defensively as the tournament went on, which was one of thing he credits for the tournament victory.

“I thought all tournament we made good decisions with the ball and attacked well, but I think our defense may have gotten a little better at the end,” he said.

“We would get sort of into the other teams’ zone pushing the ball around and then when the ball did come out of the zone a lot of times we were still stuck in. So there were lots of breakaways and things against us or two on ones, so I think we did a better job dealing with that by the end of the tournament.”

Peter Mather played as a defenseman for the Young Guns.

He said it felt good to beat the Veterans, who finished the round robin as the only undefeated team.

“We didn’t really know what to expect in the tournament and we got beat pretty good twice,” he said. “So it was nice after having some big losses to come back and win.”

He said the team rebounded nicely after the opening loss.

“After that we had a better idea of what kind of pace it was going to be and we started working a lot harder and played better,” Mather said.

“Every game we improved. We wanted to win it. That was our goal.”

Jaime Whitty played in the midfielder position for the Young Guns and at 16 years old, she was one of the younger competitors in the tournament. She said she was pleased with the victory.

“It feels great,” Whitty said. “It was hard playing with older men, it was really physical, but it was good to get out and play a different game of soccer. It was a faster pace than women’s soccer, but it was really fun.”

Whitty, who has been playing soccer since she was five years old, said the team’s speed and communication skills out on the field was its main strength and played a big part in the winning the event.

Ed Van Randen, the co-ordinator of the Oldtimers Soccer League, said this year’s tournament went very well.

“It was a lot of fun,” he said. “It was really well run and all the teams were very equal. Any of the teams could have won the tournament. That is a big part of why we do it, we want everybody to come in feeling like they have a chance to win every game.”

He said it is fantastic having an Outside town team participate at the event.

“That’s our vision for this tournament is in a few years we would like to be up to eight teams and we would like half of the teams to be invited teams, coming from somewhere else,” he said. “So we are continuing to try to grow the tournament to get more people coming to Whitehorse to see our city and be a part of the tournament.”

Van Randen said he was impressed with the level of competition at this year’s event.

“I think it was some of the best soccer we have had all year,” he said. “That is another nice reason to do it at the end of the year.

The guys are all in shape. They have been playing all year, so it makes the quality of the tournament really good.”

He said he hopes to have more teams participate in the soccer tournament in 2009.

“I would like to see eight teams next year,” Van Randen said. “We almost had a team from Anchorage and Fairbanks, AK this year and Calgary, Alt. is always interested as is Edmonton and Prince George, B.C. So next year we will just work a little harder, start a little earlier and see if we can’t get another two teams to come into town.”