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INUVIK
It was a weary and slightly ragged team of Inuvik youth who boarded the plane back to their hometown Sunday after participating in the senior Super Soccer Championship in Yellowknife over the weekend.

A co-ed team of youth travelled from Samuel Hearne Secondary School to Yellowknife to compete in the annual senior Super Soccer championship last weekend. The team consisted of Chloe Larocque, back row, from left, Brittaney Watters, Connor McLeod, Richard Alexie, Brandon Day, Jozef Semmler and Ryley Maring-Blake; along with Chelsea Lennie, front row, from left, Keaton Cockney, Scott Ross-Kuptana, James Day and Bradley Charlie. Not pictured above are coach Maia Lepage and assistant coach Lance Gray. - photo courtesy of Maia Lepage

The team was plagued with injuries over the weekend, going through rolls of medical tape and an entire jar of pain relief balm, said coach Maia Lepage.

While they pushed through and played hard, they did not manage to win any of their seven games.

"They were very resilient," said Lepage. "They were kind of upset that they lost, but they really stuck together as a team.

"We try to win, but playing in the highest level, we're kind of at a disadvantage because the other schools have the opportunity to practise on the bigger fields, and we don't have those facilities here in Inuvik."

The group of 12 players aged 15 to 18 competed in the Under-19 boys A Division. The nine boys and three girls who represented Inuvik's Samuel Hearne Secondary School were the only co-ed team in their division.

"The girls really held their own, it was impressive," said Lepage.

One of the female players, Chloe Larocque, was even given a yellow card for being too rough during a game against Yellowknife's St. Patrick High School green squad.

"One of our girls did end up getting hurt, but she did take down three boys while she did it," said Lepage.

While they may have been blanked during tournament play, players still saw benefit from exposure to the competitive play and larger fields, said Lepage.

"It gives the students that go down exposure to soccer, and a lot of them are really talented soccer players.

"They get to play a completely different type of soccer."

The junior girls team had a lot of fun and played well, especially since they weren't used to playing on an indoor pitch and some of the tournament rules were different, said coach Nadine Wagner, who travelled with the team from Sir Alexander Mackenzie School to Yellowknife for their tournament April 27 to 30.

"They did very well, considering that we only had a handful of practices before we went down," she said.

The team of Grade 6 girls played four games over three days.

They came closest to a victory in their first game, which they ultimately lost 1-0 to Yellowknife's St. Joseph School.

During the second and third games, they played hard and held their opponents to three goals against, said Wagner. However, their offence couldn't seem to score and they lost both games with a score of 3-0.

During the first round of the playoffs, Caitlin Church gave the team's offence a boost and scored two goals. However, the team could not hold out against an onslaught of shots and were knocked out with a final score of 11-2.

Goalies Joelle Charlie and Chrislin Hvatum shone throughout the tournament, and were instrumental in keeping the scores close throughout the first three games, said Wagner.

"Our two goalies played very well," she said.

Travelling to Yellowknife for the tournament does more than improve the athletes' skills, said Wagner. Teammates took advantage of their trip to the city to go bowling, take in a movie, and do other activities not offered in Inuvik.

"Most of the games were very competitive," said Wagner. "For the most part, it could have gone either way."

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