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Freshmen pair’s first varsity goals carry Crimson Bears past Mustangs
- Klas Stolpe
- Apr 19
- 5 min read
JDHS tops Chugiak 3-1 behind scores from Imanol Vera and Elijah Edgar at Adair-Kennedy Memorial Park
By Klas Stolpe
Juneau Independent
Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé freshmen Imanol Vera and Elijah Edgar scored their first high school goals, and junior Maddox Carroll added another as the Crimson Bears broke through the Chugiak Mustangs defense for a 3-1 win on Saturday at the Adair-Kennedy Memorial Park soccer field.
The first half saw both sides get multiple quality opportunities to score, but were met with tough defensive adjustments by their opponents.
Chugiak senior Parker Gunderson put the game's first shot just high and JDHS junior Maddox Carroll hit a free kick that hit the Mustangs’ crossbar.
Chugiak had two corner kicks that were handled easily by the Crimson Bears and JDHS junior Sam Mazon had a run on goal that was smothered by Mustangs junior keeper Connor Campbell.
The stalemate was broken in first-half stoppage time as a Chugiak miss was played out and down the field. JDHS freshman forward Elijah Edgar received a through ball from senior Elliot Welch and struck it with force past the Mustang’s keeper for a 1-0 first-half score.
“That was my first varsity goal,” freshman Elijah Edgar said. “It feels amazing. I never thought I would score for the Bears…I was wide and saw my teammate Elliot had the ball, and I raised my hand. He saw me and he played the through ball. When I got the ball I didn’t know what to do, but I shot it and it went in.”
Edgar was awarded the team’s Lunch Box honor as the Crimson Bears’ player of the match after the game.
“It feels pretty great to get the box,” he said.
JDHS commanded the first 10 minutes of possession in the second half, but Chugiak found a tying score by Gunderson with 30 minutes left in the game.
JDHS’ Edgar had another chance at a goal, but a Chugiak defender mauled the young forward, earning the Crimson Bears a penalty kick that Carroll blasted in for a 2-1 lead with 24 minutes remaining.
JDHS sophomore keeper Callan Walker saved three tough shots on goal in the final 10 minutes.
Chugiak had one final push that JDHS senior Jesper Bennetsen snuffed out.
“We defended well,” JDHS coach Gary Lehnhart said. “We didn’t give up a lot. Yesterday I thought we gave up more legitimate goal-scoring opportunities. I felt like today there weren’t as many. So that is always good…Jesper runs the back. He is very good and I thought he had a good weekend. We are lucky to have him.”
Bennetsen moved the ball to sophomore Troy Edgar, who played a ball through on the change of possession to Crimson Bears freshman Imanol Vera, who collected the ball on the run and scored his first high school goal.
“It was a little buildup that we had,” Vera said. “I saw my teammate Troy Edgar with the ball in the center. And then I looked in front of me and I had nobody in front of me so I started screaming his name. He gave it to me and I am a right-footed player, so I am never going to my left. I just had the opportunity and the coach is always saying if you want to make your left better you have to start someday. So I took it with my left and it went in."
When the ball nestled into the goal Vera pointed to the Crimson Bears logo on his jersey.
“When I pointed at my chest it was a reminder for me and everybody that came here that I scored a goal for us, not just me,” Vera said. “And that this is the Bears' house. I was very proud of how I worked and being able to score for my team, and our team taking the win. Especially since it is my second game playing in high school. It is amazing.”
JDHS keeper Walker had 11 saves in the game. Carroll had seven shots — four on goal — and the penalty kick goal. Mazon had four shots on goal, T. Edgar three, Welch two, and Vera, E. Edgar and sophomore Bryce Haygood one shot on goal each.
Bennetsen led the Crimson Bears' defense by winning ball possession through steals and tackles 11 times, Vera eight, Welch and senior Ethan Van Kirk and Noah Ault seven each, senior Kaiden Odenheimer six, Mazon five, junior Ibrahima Diouf four, E. Edgar, sophomore Jayce McDonald and Carroll three each, and freshman Andrew Koverdan and Haygood two apiece.
Walker, Welch, Bennetsen and Mazon played 80 minutes each, Haywood 72, T. Edgar and Diouf 70, Carroll 65, Ault 60, E. Edgar and Van Kirk 48 apiece, I. Bera 40, sophomore Jayce McDonald 23, Koverdan 22, Odenheimer 15 and junior Tullitsiaq Reimer 15 apiece, and senior Kevin Flores-Lopes and freshman Karter Barzee six apiece.
“We finally scored some goals in the run of play,” JDHS coach Gary Lehnhart said. “I thought that we played better than yesterday, which was good because the second half yesterday I felt like we let down. So it was good to see that we kept the energy up. But we have to do more with these opportunities, and if we don’t we are going to be in trouble…I have to remember these are the first games too. So they are getting there. They are figuring each other out. That is part of it. The biggest thing is they can’t start to panic, like, ‘I’m never going to score’ or ‘We’re never going to score.’ Then they start trying to do it themselves, so it is just getting people to play together. We have had seasons where we just have had a hard time scoring. Hopefully we are not going to be that team, but we are going to be a team that can find the net.”
• Contact Klas Stolpe at klas.stolpe@gmail.com.
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