FIRST-ROUND FRUSTRATIONS

ANCHORAGE — Wasilla midfielder Randi Smith knows just what the Warriors need if they're going to live to play a weekend game at the ASAA/First National Bank Alaska State Soccer Championships.

“Good sleep,” Smith said after she and her Wasilla teammates sleepwalked through a disappointing 2-0 loss to Juneau in Thursday's opening-round match at Anchorage Football Stadium.

Wasilla looked lethargic from the outset, giving up a goal just 14 minutes into the contest, a score by senior Rachel Tarver, then falling behind 2-0 on a chip from sophomore Annika Ord in the 34th minute.

“We just came out defensive,” Wasilla coach Katie Broeder said of her team's play.

Juneau pushed the pace for the entire first half, and the Crimson Bears could have gone up even more if it weren't for the stellar play of Wasilla keeper Sammy Becker.

Becker, a junior, was named Wasilla's player of the game after making a number of athletic saves to keep things close.

Becker's biggest save came in the second half, when she stuffed Juneau's Amanda Soto from point-blank range to preserve the two-goal deficit.

“She probably had one of the best games I've seen her play,” Broeder said.

But the same could not be said of the rest of the Warrior team for much of the game. Broeder said her team looked “timid,” and her assessment was backed by Wasilla's failure to put any meaningful pressure on Juneau until late in the game. Wasilla's first shot on goal didn't even come until a half-hour had run off the clock.

Smith, one of just two seniors on a Wasilla team that finished second in this year's Northern Lights Conference tournament, said she wasn't sure why Wasilla came out so flat against Juneau.

“I don't know what the deal was,” she said.

Both of Juneau's goals were set up by senior striker Margaret Sekona, whose speed kept pressure on Wasilla's back line all afternoon.

“They definitely had speed up front, and big kicks in the back,” Smith said.

Smith said the Warriors don't plan on letting the same thing happen today, when they take on West Valley at 10 a.m. in the consolation round. The Wolfpack suffered a 5-0 loss to South Anchorage in Thursday's other quarterfinal.

“We've just got to be ready,” Smith said. “Warm up as a team, pump each other up. We've just gotta get everyone focused.”

Contact Matt Tunseth at 352-2265 or matt.tunseth@frontiersman.com