JDHS and Chugiak varsity boys soccer sides leave pitch tied 1-1
- Klas Stolpe
- 14 hours ago
- 3 min read
Crimson Bears and Mustangs battle to a standoff at Adair-Kennedy Memorial Park
By Klas Stolpe
Juneau Independent
Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé senior Noah Ault headed in a shot early in the first half of Friday’s season opener for the Crimson Bears on the Adair Kennedy Park field, but the Chugiak Mustangs hit a penalty kick late in the second half to send both teams off the field with a 1-1 tie.
“Some good and some bad,” JDHS coach Gary Lehnhart said. “I thought we got going really well early. We missed some chances that came back in the end to hurt us. You hate to give up one goal and have it be a PK, but that’s the way it is. We did some really good things. We’re young and inexperienced and played a little bit like it, a little rattled there for a while, but we came back at the end and had a lot of good opportunities. Just didn’t get it in the net. But very promising. Some of the new guys that we weren’t sure about did all right, but we will need to get better.”
Ault’s goal came off a corner kick by sophomore Bryce Haygood that Chugiak defended back out with roughly 19 minutes to play in the first half. Haygood fielded the ball and lobbed a second kick into the scrum of players in front of the Mustangs net and Ault battled through the bodies to head the ball in.
“My mindset was, like, let’s go get a goal and get it started off strong,” Ault said. “So that is what happened, and it felt really good to get the first goal of the season and hopefully many more to come.”
Ault was awarded the team’s “Hungry Dog Belt” that is inscribed with “Winners Find A Way To Win.”
“We give it to a player that makes a big play in the box,” Ault said. “And tonight I ended up with the big play in the box so it was pretty awesome.”
The Crimson Bears’ “Lunch Box” was earned by senior Jesper Bennetsen.
“Gary likes that I step to the ball,” Bennetsen said. “And he thinks that I am a good influence on the younger players.”
Bennetsen was instrumental in orchestrating the Crimson Bears' back defensive movements, which were crucial as starting junior keeper Calvin Landvik was injured shortly after the JDHS score.
“Calvin did a good job,” JDHS’ Lehnhart said. “He was out all last year with an injury and he has been injured a bunch this spring. Hopefully he is going to be able to bounce back quick. He is just a great keeper and a great kid.”
The Crimson Bears would rally behind sophomore Callan Walker who had minded the net last season when Landvik was injured.
Walker would stop four shots in the final two minutes of the game. Landvik had stopped two in his limited minutes as well.
Both sides had to deal with the weather, a non-stop rain that was chilled by the snow berms surrounding the field.
“It could always be better,” Bennetsen said of the game. “It was a good starting point. For our first game it is not bad. We have really only been practicing on the field for a couple days, so I am excited.”
Junior Sam Mazon and sophomore Troy Edgar put three shots on goal apiece, and senior Kevin Flores-Lopez and freshman Elijah Edgar one shot on goal apiece. Senior Elliot Welch had three shots slightly off goal, junior Maddox Carroll two, sophomore Jayce McDonald, freshman Andrew Koverdan and E. Edgar one each.
JDHS will face Chugiak at 3:15 p.m. Saturday, following the Crimson Bears girls’ match against the Mustangs girls at 2 p.m.
• Contact Klas Stolpe at klas.stolpe@gmail.com.
