Thunder Mountain saves soccer senior night against Ketchikan

The emotions and hype of senior night carried onto the home pitch of the Thunder Mountain High School Lady Falcons as they did everything but win, earning a scoreless tie against the visiting Ketchikan Lady Kings on Friday at Falcons Field.

“The girls are inching closer and closer to the elusive goal we’ve been chasing this season,” TMHS coach Cindy Eriksen said. “They had great energy heading into the game and were close. They had so many opportunities so the fact that they are creating the opportunities shows we are making progress.”

TMHS shots came in abundance in the first half.

Senior Mackenzie Olver put a 15-yard shot straight on the keeper with 27 minutes left in the first half and junior Kaidree Hartman followed that by winning the keepers play in and missing a shot wide.

Senior Kaelin Tibbles put a corner kick into play to Olver, received it back, and put a marked run onto the Kayhi goal only to have her shot smothered.

On the defensive side Lady Falcons freshman keeper Tuvy Ly put aside three shots in a single Lady Kings attack with 20 minutes remaining in the first half.

Hartman would get two more shots on goal in the first half, Olver four attempts and junior Adella Dihle one in the box.

Ketchikan keeper Bree Johnson was crucial in preserving the tie, turning aside multiple shots including a rocket shot by TMHS junior Zoey Moore in the top of the second half.

The Lady Kings Mady Heck had a free kick that just missed the mark in the second half as well.

TMHS keeper Ly saved the tie with 23 minutes left in the second half by covering a run in the box by Kayhi’s MJ Jasper with 22 minutes left to play and caught another Kayhi shot minutes later.

Seniors Olver, Tibbles, Ana Scopel, Kylie Morris, Mercedes Cordero, Sam Mead, Lillian Stears and Brooke McAndrews were honored before the match and the crowd stayed through the rain to cheer them on.

“It was fun to celebrate the seniors tonight,” Eriksen said. “They have pushed through the season and pushed the limits of what they thought they were capable of, adapted to lots of change and kept shining. I am super proud.”

The Thunder Mountain varsity will host Ketchikan at noon Saturday with the junior varsity game at 2 p.m.

See more photos from senior night below.