Thunder Mountain senior Jake Babcock and freshman Wallace Adams each scored goals, and the Falcons hung on late to secure their first-ever win over Juneau-Douglas in program history on Wednesday night at Adair-Kennedy Memorial Field.
[PHOTOS: See photos from the Wednesday night action here]
Babcock converted on a penalty kick midway through the second half for the 2-1 lead, and Thunder Mountain’s defense stood tall over the final 20 minutes to seal the win.
“It was close — we had some lucky blocks and of course a lot of free kicks at the end which was frightening,” Babcock said. “But we held it through and we finished with a win.”
TMHS coach Josh Odum said it’s been a long road to establishing a competitive soccer program at the school, which opened in 2008 and founded a soccer team in 2010. The Falcons went 1-11-1 last year, losing seven of its eight conference games against JDHS and Ketchikan.
[Here’s how the girls game played out]
“It’s been a rough road, and it feels really good to give this town strong games,” Odum said. “That was no easy victory by any means, my heart was in my throat that entire game. We’ve been feeling this anxiety build throughout the week, which I suppose is good, because if they weren’t nervous, I’d be scared. They worked for it.”
Thunder Mountain High School girls soccer coach Joshua Odum at his team’s senior night in May 2018. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire)
In contrast, their Wednesday victory was already the Falcons’ third conference win of the season, having blanked Ketchikan 4-0 and 3-0 two weeks ago.
As he reflected on the win, Odum couldn’t overstate the steadfast resolve of his senior group.
“The guys who’ve stuck with us for four years have been losing game after game for four years,” Odum said. “Those are my go-to’s, they are my leaders, and they’re definitely showing their colors tonight.”
The Falcons battle against Ketchikan Friday at 6:15 p.m. at TMHS. JDHS gets set for another home game against the Homer Mariners Friday at 8 p.m. at Adair-Kennedy.
• Contact sports reporter Nolin Ainsworth at 523-2272 or nainsworth@juneauempire.com. Follow Empire Sports on Twitter at @akempiresports.
