Talk about your bittersweet pill to have to swallow.

Their stat line showed an undefeated record bolstered by nine goals for and just three against - and two of those blemishes were own goals.

But as fate would have it, the Coquitlam Metro-Ford under-18 boys Ajax soccer team had to settle for a bronze medal at last weekend's national championships in Nova Scotia.

The Ajax side clinched the third-place win with a 2-1 win over Longueuil, Quebec's entry at the nationals.

"That game was crazy," said Ajax coach Russel Huggon. "They were the best soccer-playing team we played against, which was nice because most teams played direct and tried to kick at us, and we controlled most of those games. That game was definitely 50/50 in terms of control in the game."

Scoreless at the half, Coquitlam got second-half markers from Andre Clerc and Chad De Boer, before striker Cole Almond was sent off after a pair of yellow cards.

Longueuil applied furious pressure in the last six minutes and ultimately got within one, though Coquitlam's defence held the fort.

"We celebrated harder than the first-place team after that bronze-medal game," Huggon said.

Ajax got by their semifinal opponents from Halifax by a 3-0 margin, with Tyler Leonard potting a pair and Michael Dunn netting the other single.

Faced with a must-win in crossover play one day earlier, the Coquitlam crew played to a 1-1 draw with Ontario, effectively ending any hope for a national title.

"Yes the boys were down, but we just took them away from the hotel, from all the other teams and went for a nice long walk," Huggon said. "We re-focused and had a really good team meeting and cleared our minds."

Other round robin games saw Coquitlam douse Alberta's Chinook United 2-0, while also tying the Prince Edward side 1-1. In those two games, Coquitlam got goals from Julian Katz, Adam Jones and Clerc in what was their final games in youth soccer.

"We're proud of the these boys and they definitely have to be remembered for going undefeated in a national championships and bringing home a bronze medal," Huggon said.