JDHS girls soccer team falls 2-1 to West Anchorage

A last-minute goal by West Anchorage senior Hattie Luckasson sunk the Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé Crimson Bears girls soccer team 2-1 on Saturday at Adair Kennedy Memorial Park.

The Crimson Bears were out of position on reversal from offense to defense and that resulted in pressure on JDHS junior keeper Alba Muir, who blocked a shot in the box and recovered to send another across the front. But the rebound found Luckasson and she struck it in.

“I was very excited,” Luckasson said. “It was kind of a very tight gap to get it. Two of my other teammates missed it before and I’m just so happy that I got it in the tight space that I had. But, no, that was amazing. I’m very happy that we won this game, especially after yesterday.”

Both sides played the exact opposite of Friday’s seemingly listless runs, with strong attacks and hearty defensive marks.

West had the first shot of the game on goal, but JDHS’ Muir continued her steady season of work in the box with a block and then covered a West corner kick that the Crimson Bears turned into a run down the pitch.

JDHS would gather in their half and win a throw in.

JDHS junior Kenzie Simonson threw the ball into junior forward Peyton Wheeler, who dropped it back to Simonson. Simonson then chipped it into the West box. The ball bounced off a West defender toward senior forward Milina Mazon, who sidestepped a defender trying to track the touch on the ball and then stepped into a shot to the far post out of reach of West’s keeper.

“It was exciting,” Mazon said. “I finally saw that moment. My coach has been yelling at me to take it so I did and luckily it went in, and I think it got us pretty pumped up in that first half. But we fell a little short today and that’s OK.”

JDHS would have the run of action as they had seven shots on goal before West put another attack together as Eagles senior Mia Parish put the last shot of the first 40 minutes on frame, but JDHS’ Muir covered.

A key to the JDHS play was sophomore wingback Alyssa Travis, who earned the team’s Hard Hat Award for responding to coach Matt Dusenberry shifting her to center defensive midfielder. Travis was solid trying to win or contest balls in a position that required more running than her previous spots.

“He asked me to play a new position that I haven’t played since last season,” Travis said. “My mindset was to just play like I haven’t been playing. I have been playing like I’m really stressed out and I wanted to play stress-free. So I just played free and didn’t panic.”

West began to push forward more in the last 40 minutes.

Roughly two minutes into second-half action, Eagles’ sophomore Zuma Thoms struck a long ball that was controlled by West freshman Emery Bryan and passed along to junior Leah Stiassny, who beat the keeper left.

“It was pretty great to tie it up for our team, and it really brought the energy back up,” Stiassny said. “It was just really great to get that goal. It really brought the spirit up and helped us get the win.”

West would follow soon after with a corner and two rebound shots that JDHS’ Muir covered.

JDHS’ Wheeler hit the side of the net on a shot and minutes later found Simonson, who also hit the side of the net.

Simonson, a defender and midfielder, continues to put in the hard work across the pitch and the talent of the West forwards was some of the best faced this season.

“They are really aggressive, which makes it hard to settle and collect the ball in this weather,” Simonson said. “But you just have to kind of do what you can with it and just make the best decisions you can and do what you think is right…I think the way we played was good. We put our best foot forward and we put a lot of effort in, and I think we just need to keep playing and see what the outcome becomes.”

JDHS’ back midfield line was solid, and junior defender Piper Blackgoat-Diehl was key in marking numerous West attacks along with Simonson, senior Ella Orsborn, sophomore Clairee Overson, freshman Zoe Tagsip, freshman Marigold Lindoff and junior Tearamae Alexander, among others.

“It was very intense,” JDHS’ Wheeler said. “Very, very intense. We did have a lot of movement up top but we just weren’t able to get it out of our middle and play it fast enough is what it seemed like. But we did pretty good as a team…They did pretty good and we did pretty good too…We just have to really work and show that we can still be in this. We just have to put in all our effort and all of our work basically.”

With five minutes left to play, the momentum had begun to turn and West began pushing forward quicker.

JDHS did not respond fast enough on their back side and West got the ball across center with the Crimson Bears out of defensive shape. West’s Stiassny missed a point-blank touch contested by JDHS keeper Muir, and the rebound found West’s Luckasson, who struck in the game-winner.

“We were certainly trying to ask questions of their back line and what I mean by that is can we play it in such a way that makes them turn and have to go retreat to their goal rather than just playing soccer right in front of them all the time,” JDHS coach Dusenberry said. “And I thought we had moments where we did that and switching the ball because West was over pursuing the ball…and if we can recognize that and play it to the other side then we’ve got space and time. Kind of like yesterday, we still had the ball going out of bounds a lot more than I would like. I guess we can’t ignore the fact that it has been pouring down rain these last two days, which is not exactly the best soccer weather or any other kind of outdoor sports weather.”

JDHS kept their heads up throughout, meaning they gave 100% effort and took the loss positively.

“As long as we can say to ourselves we gave forth our best effort then we have to tip our hats to the other team and say they just did enough to beat us, and today they did enough,” Dusenberry said.

West is tied for sixth at 1-4 (2-5-1 overall) in the Cook Inlet Conference, which features top teams South 5-0-1 (5–0-1), Dimond 3-0-1 (7-0-1), Chugiak 4-1 (5-1) and always dangerous Service 3-2 (4-2-1), Bartlett 3-3 (3-7-1), Eagle River 1-4 (1-7) and Bettye Davis East 0-6 (0-7).

“It means a lot,” West coach Oscar Menendez said. “Juneau is a quality team and they’ve had some good results. Our team plays in a tough Cook Inlet Conference against great teams and it is going to be a dogfight to see who gets into state.”

The top four teams in the CIC go to state and the top three in the Rail Belt Conference also.

JDHS is fifth in the RBC, with a 1-3 record (4-4-1 overall). Lathrop is 1-0 (4-1 overall), Wasilla 2-1 (10-2), West Valley 2-2 (4-3) and Colony 2-2 (8-5).

One at-large bid is awarded to state as well so games against opposite conferences are crucial for RPI rankings. JDHS and West tied 0-0 on Friday.

“To be able to go out of conference and get a win and a tie this weekend is really great,” Menendez said. “But also for our team we are very heavy in freshmen and sophomores, we will play as many as eight or nine at a time and we depend on everybody on the bench to contribute and we were really happy that we were able to play all 22 players this weekend. That’s great for now and great for the future. It was truly a team win today.”

JDHS hosts the non-conference Soldotna Stars at 5:15 p.m. Thursday.

• Contact Klas Stolpe at klas.stolpe@juneauempire.com.