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Crimson Bears soccer boys fall to Knights again
- Klas Stolpe
- 21 hours ago
- 4 min read
JDHS loses home field advantage against visiting Colony
By Klas Stolpe
Juneau Independent
For the second time in as many days, the Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé Crimson Bears boys soccer team fell to the visiting Colony Knights on the Adair Kennedy Memorial Park pitch, losing 3-1 Saturday in a contest that appeared to be in their control in the early going.
Run of play was in the Crimson Bears side a majority of the first 15 minutes of the match, and then it wasn’t.
“It is one of those things where we knock on the door, but we are not turning those into real viable scoring opportunities,” JDHS coach Gary Lehnhart said. “It looks like we have control of the game, but we really don’t, we are not getting close enough to scoring. Sure, we got a couple on the doorstep, but the amount of control we had is not turning into good scoring opportunities… And we gave up six goals. Can’t win when you give up six goals in two games.”
JDHS lost to Colony 3-0 on Friday.
On Saturday, Colony senior Axel Simeck scored a first-half goal with two minutes left for a 1-0 lead. JDHS had a chance at an equalizer, but a corner kick just missed and was played away.
“We are in a developmental phase,” JDHS senior Jesper Bennetsen said. “Our team is pretty young. There is a little bit of inexperience and that comes with lack of time of play. I think, if we keep working, Gary will help push us through. I try to keep positive, keep it going and flowing. It is hard. But our younger guys’ touches are good. I think they play really fast and they play well and they move. We just have got to put some in. I think we need some muscle, we are missing that in the box. We need an aggressor.”
JDHS sophomore Bryce Haygood scored minutes into the second half, assisted by senior Kevin Flores-Lopez, to tie the game at 1-1. Haygood and junior Sam Mazon had six shots apiece during the match. Haygood put five shots on goal and Mazon two. Senior Elliot Welch and sophomore Troy Edgar put a shot on goal and freshman Elijah Edgar had a shot.
Colony senior Blake Carveth scored with 28 minutes left to play in the second half for a 2-1 lead and Colony senior forward Kris Belanger scored for a 3-1 advantage.
“We are broke right now, and that is on me,” Lehnhart said. “Especially with an inexperienced team. So I clearly need to push different buttons. They are losing their confidence and that is never a good thing. So we are going back to the drawing board and at this point we still have lots to play for. But now we are in some must-win games to ensure that we get into the tournament. We have a few days to practice and deal with the issues.”
The Crimson Bears are just one touch away from challenging for a top berth to the state tournament and that is evident with the effort on the pitch.
On Saturday, Haygood (4 steals, 3 corner kicks), Welch (4 STLS), Mazon (1 CK) and T. Edgar all played 80 minutes each in the match, as did junior goalkeeper Calvin Landvik. Seniors Noah Ault and Ethan Van Kirk and junior Ibrahima Diouf (5 STLS) played 60 minutes each, Bennetsen 55 (4 STLS), Flores-Lopez 50, freshman Karter Barzee 45, freshman E. Edgar 40 (2 STLS), freshman Imanol Vera 40 (1 STL, 1 CK), freshman Andrew Koverdan 30 (2 STLS), and seniors Erik Thompson (2 STLS) and Kaiden Odenheimer 20 apiece.
“You can tell as a coach when as a group they are not communicating and they are not working like they normally do when they are functioning properly,” Lehnhart said. “I think as a coach you put pressure on them to succeed, and then when they don’t succeed, there is a sense that they are failing you, but in reality you are failing them just as much. I have been in this a lot longer so I don’t lose my confidence because I have seen success. A lot of them haven’t seen that success yet, so they start wondering if they can do it, and they can. Because we have seen enough of it to think that they can. But this clearly is a step back for us. Starting with me, we have to figure out how to turn it around.”
The West Valley boys lead the Railbelt Conference with a 7-0 record (7-1 overall), Colony is 4-2-1 (7-3-1 overall), JDHS 2-4 (4-4-1 overall), Wasilla 1-3-1 (4-7-2 overall) and Lathrop 1-6 (2-6 overall). JDHS plays at Wasilla next weekend.
The top three teams from the RBC advance to state May 28-30 — which will be held at Matanuska-Susitna Valley schools Colony, Palmer, Wasilla — along with the top four from the Cook Inlet Conference and one at-large berth. The teams are seeded at state via RPI, an equation that takes into account a team’s record against eligible DI/DII games, and winning percentages of opponents played and their opponents played.
The JDHS boys currently have an RPI that places them sixth across the state among Division I teams. They trail Dimond (CIC), West Valley (RBC), West Anchorage (CIC), South Anchorage (CIC) and Colony (RBC). They are above Service (CIC), Chugiak (CIC), Wasilla (RBC), East Anchorage (CIC), Lathrop (RBC), Eagle River (CIC) and Bartlett (CIC).
• Contact Klas Stolpe at sports@juneauindependent.com
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