Bears take advantage of chances in win over Warriors

WASILLA — The Juneau-Douglas Crimson Bears may have scored a 4-2 win over Wasilla on the Warriors’ field on Friday. Regardless of a win or loss, Wasilla head coach Blake Livingston knows playing a perennial contender such as the Bears will help Wasilla earn a chance to play on Juneau’s turf, the site of the 2010 ASAA/First National Bank State Soccer Championships.

“Our whole objective is to be in Juneau in a couple of weeks,” Livingston said. “We know that it’s important to play teams like this.”

Juneau, a two-time state champion that has never finished lower than fourth in an ASAA sanctioned state tourney, scored three times within a five-minute stretch of the first half of the win.

“We had about 15 minutes where the wheels came off and Juneau made us pay,” Livingston said.

Jackson Lehnhart, Colin Zheng and Phil Murray all scored for the Crimson Bears during a stretch that also featured a goal from Wasilla junior Paul Sliwa.

“Juneau capitalized off a few of our mistakes,” Livingston said. “But to their credit, they controlled a lot of the first half.”

After Juneau spent about a 10-minute stretch consistently sending crosses through the penalty box and challenging Wasilla goalkeeper Eli Tingstad with shots, Lehnhart emerged from traffic in front of the net and popped a short attempt just over the reach of Tingstad and under the crossbar during the 29th minute to give the Bears the 1-0 lead.

Juneau quickly added to that advantage as Zheng sent a hard strike from just outside the penalty box into the lower corner of the net during the 30th minute.

Wasilla was able to answer just about as quickly.

During the 31st minute, Wasilla striker Dustin Hout was taken down inside the penalty box. Sliwa promptly put away the penalty shot to put the Warriors on the scoreboard.

But once again, Juneau used a quick strike to grab the momentum. Murray, Juneau’s senior captain, scored to give Juneau the 3-1 lead.

“Whenever you get into a 3-1 hole, it’s tough to come out of that,” Livingston said.

Chris Hoffman also scored for Juneau in the second half.

Livingston was a bit more pleased with what he saw during the final 40 minutes. Jake Barber scored for Wasilla in the second half, and Wasilla was able to put together more scoring opportunities.

“I thought in the second half we showed some resilience,” Livingston said. “We really strived to fix some of the mistakes we made in the first half.”

Girls soccer

Warriors tie

Mustangs

ANCHORAGE — Wasilla capped the three-day Dimond Invitational by playing to a 1-1 tie with Chugiak Saturday morning at Dimond High School.

Ashlynn Frizzelle scored Wasilla’s lone goal, an unassisted tally in the first half. Chugiak tied the score early in the second.

Wasilla suffered a 1-0 loss to South Anchorage and a 5-0 loss to Dimond during the first two days of the tourney. The Warriors left the tourney with a 0-2-1 mark, but Wasilla head coach Amber Craig said the competition provided an excellent opportunity for her team to see some of the top squads in Southcentral Alaska.

“I told them coming into this week, it’s not only going to be a good test physically, but a good test mentally,” Craig said. “Can you stick with it, having a challenging game one after another?”

The Warriors, like most Valley teams, grew accustomed to playing about once a week, but the tie with Chugiak marked their fourth match in as many days.

Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.