At home on Friday, the Juneau-Douglas High School girls soccer team faced their stiffest competition yet this season.
After taking an early lead in the match, the girls conceded two goals to fall to Service High School 1-2. It was JDHS’ first loss of the season; they’re now 4-1.
Service plays a brilliant possession game, but sometimes lacks intent to finish. JDHS planned on being the team with the goal-scoring intent in the match, with freshman Malia Miller coming out of the gate with a surprise early goal.
“I wasn’t expecting it to go in because I was just playing a cross. Someone gave me a ball out wide, I beat a defender and I slide it in with my left foot to the near post. It went under the keeper’s arm with like this much space,” Miller said, holding her hands about a foot apart.
Miller added that JDHS could have been more connected as a team and not given up as many balls in the middle.
Service senior Aislinn Waite scored a nice goal to equalize with 15 minutes left in the first half. Waite sent the ball over her head on a volley, JDHS freshman keeper Shaylin Cesar got her fingertips to the ball, but it went over her head and into the net’s top shelf.
“Their defender tried to head the ball out, and it bounced to my side and I tried to hit it,” Waite said, adding that her team didn’t possess the ball as well as they usually do, but that they can’t use the rain as the excuse.
Service’s Emma Chaussee scored the game-winning goal in the second half.
JDHS’ Cesar made some spectacular saves in the game, and was awarded with the team’s “hard hat,” honorific for the game’s best defensive player.
The JDHS girls head on a road trip this week to play games against East, Palmer, South and Bartlett high schools on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
Look to the Empire online for coverage.
