The Juneau-Douglas High School girls soccer team scored in flurries at Adair Kennedy field on Friday night, beating Thunder Mountain High School 4-1 after a scoreless first half.
JDHS blew the game wide open in the second, scoring three of their four goals in a five-minute span.
“As a coach I was already thinking about what we needed to work on, and I thought we were creating chances but just not finishing at the end, but then those were a couple fantastic goals,” Crimson Bears coach Matt Dusenberry said.
In the 56th minute of the 80-minute game, JDHS freshman midfielder Malia Miller drilled a left-footer from 26 yards out, putting the Crimson Bears up 1-0.
Miller’s goal was a beauty, but she enjoyed the spotlight for mere minutes before another freshman scored. Defender Bailey Wery Tagaban hit a rocket into the upper 90 from 36 yards out in the 58th minute to put her team up 2-0.
“The ball came popping out and I went to go kick it, like I do when I’m usually on defense, and it went in. I was not expecting that,” Tagaban said.
In the 60th minute JDHS senior striker Amber White found junior forward/midfielder Erika Holst with a corner kick, who settled the ball and notched the Crimson Bears’ third goal from inside the six-yard box.
Thunder Mountain responded to the JDHS’ barrage by dominating the last 15 minutes of the game. The Falcons, who could scarcely push the ball into Crimson Bear territory in the first half, loosened up in the last 15 minutes and took the game to their crosstown counterparts.
“Once they had the three goals in three minutes, we knew that now we had to actually turn around and become a bit more offensive, which is what we did,” TMHS coach John Newell said. “That was when we picked up our game and started pressing them a bit more as well. It was just tactical changes based on what was happening in the game.”
Center striker Sierra McCain received a through ball from Ray Coffee with five minutes left to put TMHS on the board at 3-1.
The Falcons sent everyone forward to try and pull the game closer in the closing minutes, leaving them open for a counter attack. JDHS took advantage with two minutes to go when senior defender Helen Thurston scored the Crimson Bears’ fourth goal from in close.
JDHS’ next game is against Ketchikan at home April 22. The Crimson Bears play Ketchikan twice that weekend.
TMHS plays next at 6:45 p.m. on April 26 against JDHS at Thunder Mountain High School.
Thunder Mountain’s Raye Coffee, left, and Juneau-Douglas’ Erika Holst compete for the ball at Adair-Kennedy Memorial Park on Friday.
Juneau-Douglas’ Rylee Landen leaps as Thunder Mountain’s goalie Tianna Huber collects the ball at Adair-Kennedy Memorial Park on Friday.
