The Crimson Bears roared their defiance in Anchorage over the weekend as both boys and girls soccer teams swept to victory for the DII tournaments.
The girls team didn’t allow a single goal against them in the tournament, beginning with a 6-0 win against Houston High School before beating out Grace Christian High School 3-0 to win the state championship.
The girls team is graduating a solid core of seniors — many of whom played together for years — and created the opportunities leading to their win, said Coach Matt Dusenberry.
“They had the opportunity and they took it,” Dusenberry said in a phone interview.
Blake Plummer and Kyla Bentz both achieved solid milestones for Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé soccer, with Bentz leading the state for goals this season. According to Dusenberry, Bentz came in second for the JDHS record for season goals behind Malia Miller, who graduated several years ago before going on to play college soccer.
“(Plummer) does now have our individual season assists and career assists (record) for JDHS,” Dusenberry said. “She was one shy from the Alaska state record for the season and four shy for the career. That’s pretty impressive given that she only played three seasons.”
The JDHS boys, entering the tournament as the number one seed, knocked out Soldotna (5-0) and Kenai (4-0) in short order. Thunder Mountain High School, entering as the three seed, beat Palmer (3-1) and Grace Christian (3-0) to make it to the final. Soldotna eliminated JDHS in last year’s tournament, said coach Gery Lehnhart in a previous interview.
With the title returning to Juneau no matter what, JDHS emerged victorious with a 4-2 win over TMHS.
“(It’s been a) great showing for Southeast soccer so far,” Dusenberry said.
Both Ketchikan’s boys and girls teams were eliminated, coming in sixth place in the tournament.
• Contact reporter Michael S. Lockett at 757-621-1197 or mlockett@juneauempire.com.
