Crimson Bears girls corral Mustangs on weathered pitch
- Klas Stolpe
- 42 minutes ago
- 3 min read
Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé earns 3-2 win over Chugiak
By Klas Stolpe
Juneau Independent
The Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé Crimson Bears girls soccer team weathered the storm and the talented Chugiak Mustangs to earn a 3-2 Friday night win on the Adair-Kennedy Memorial Park pitch.
“I felt like we showed a lot of grit to not let the game slip away from us,” JDHS coach Matt Dusenberry said.
JDHS senior Peyton Wheeler put the Crimson Bears up 1-0 with an unassisted shot from 15 yards out and Chugiak senior Mary Jo Landon answered from the same distance on the opposite side of the pitch to tie the game at 1-1.
Both sides had physical play and JDHS senior goalie Tearamae Alexander would collide with a Chugiak player while saving a shot on goal. She would leave the pitch shortly after and not return.
Chugiak had a near goal by sophomore Arrianna Lubeck that went wide, and JDHS ended the half with shots by junior Clairee Overson and Wheeler.
Chugiak had a strong scoring chance in the opening minutes of the second half, but the JDHS defense stopped three straight throw-in attempts by the Mustangs. Crimson Bears senior keeper Raynona Fraker blocked a shot that earned possession to start a run in the other direction.
Wheeler played a forward ball from freshman Maddie Dale and scored on a one-on-one with the keeper for a 2-1 JDHS lead with 30 minutes left in the game.
With roughly 17 minutes left to play Chugiak’s Lubeck scored off a corner kick by freshman Maddison Kukuk to tie the game at 2-2.
The teams would both struggle to put a shot on goal as each missed shots wide.
With under five minutes to play JDHS senior Kenzie Simonson lofted a shot from 20 yards out that went over the Chugiak keeper for a 3-2 lead.
“I was basically thinking, ‘I need to take the shot,’ because we had, like, five minutes left I think,” Simonson said. “And I just needed to take that risk and if it went in great, and if it didn’t then that was that. But it went in and that was a great feeling. I was, honestly, trying to go for a lower shot because I know that lower shots are harder to get. But luckily it just went right over her and it just fell. Everybody played extremely well. Everybody put in 100 percent effort and I think that is all you can really ask from a team. And we all worked together really well and we all keep each other going. One of the best qualities of our team is we work together really well.”
Chugiak had three shots in the final two minutes that JDHS’ Fraker handled and the Crimson Bears improved to 3-0.
Simonson was awarded the Crimson Bears “Hard Hat” honor.
“I think it was just because of the last goal,” Simonson said. “That is honestly what I think. We all played a good game, but I think in the end it just comes down to the winning goal and I think that is what happened.”
JDHS’ Wheeler had 10 shots on the night, Simonson and junior Claire Overson two apiece, junior Riley Schultz and sophomores Ayla Erikson and Zoe Tagsip one apiece.
Once again JDHS put all the Crimson Bears into action. Wheeler, Simonson, Schultz, Erikson, and sophomores Marigold Lindolf and Nellie Stowers all were indispensable and played through the entire 80 minutes. Dale was on the pitch for 70 minutes, Tagsip 51, Overson 50, senior Piper Blackgoat Diehl 46, junior Kate Bovitz 34, sophomore Gracie Snyder 20, freshman Maya Mothershead 13, freshman Hailey Romero 11, freshman Amaya Henderson eight and freshman Mia Alexander six.
The JDHS girls will play Chugiak at 2 p.m. Saturday, followed by the Crimson Bears boys facing the Mustangs at 3:15 p.m.
• Contact Klas Stolpe at klas.stolpe@gmail.com.
