No neutral field for Warriors

WASILLA — State tournaments typically offer teams a neutral field. But that’s not the case for the Wasilla High School soccer squads.

Both the Wasilla boys and girls teams will play host Juneau-Douglas during the first round of the ASAA/First National Bank State Soccer Championships at Adair-Kennedy Field in Juneau on Thursday.

“We know Juneau is a top-caliber team and they’re hosting,” said Blake Livingston, head coach of the WHS boys’ team. “We definitely have our work cut out for us.”

Juneau (16-1-3) is the third-seeded team in the tourney and the sixth-seeded Warriors (12-4-1) meet Thursday at 5 p.m.

Livingston and the Warriors did get a chance to see Juneau-Douglas, a two-time state champion that has never finished lower than fourth in an ASAA sanctioned state tourney, during the regular season. Juneau scored a 4-2 win over Wasilla at WHS in early May.

“Anytime you can have the opportunity to play a team during the regular season is a positive thing,” Livingston said.

Juneau walked away with the two-goal nonconfernece win, but three of the Bears’ goals came during a five-minute stretch of the first half. But the veteran coach knows this is a different point in the season.

“I think at the state tournament, anything can happen,” Livingston said.

Colony, which used Jonas Madsen’s “golden goal” in sudden death overtime to edge Wasilla 3-2 in the Northern Lights Conference Championships title game last Saturday in Kenai, is seeded second in the tourney and will face seventh-seeded West Anchorage.

Like the Warriors, the Knights have also seen their first-round opponent. Colony blanked West 4-0 during the regular season. Colony head coach Jeremy Johnson said both teams are improved and the Knights won’t walk in expecting another 4-0 win.

Colony (15-0-2) plays the Eagles (8-10-1) at 1 p.m. Thursday.

Both Valley squads share the bottom half of the bracket. On Friday, the NLC champion Knights will play either the host Crimson Bears or a Wasilla team that they’ve played to a tie and in an overtime game against in the span of about a week.

“It makes no difference to us really, you’ve got to play the games in front of you,” Johnson said. “We know in the state tournament, all the teams you play are a quality side.”

Wasilla is the seventh-seeded team in the girls’ bracket.

While the Wasilla and Colony boys are playing teams they’ve already faced, WHS head girls coach Amber Craig is excited her team is playing a squad the Warriors have not seen.

“I’m excited to play Juneau,” Craig said. “It’s always nice to play someone new.”

Wasilla (13-3-1) plays Juneau (12-4-1) Thursday at 3 p.m.

Third-seeded Soldotna, which beat Wasilla 3-1 in the NLC title game, and sixth-seeded Dimond are also on the same side of the bracket as the Warriors.

Eighth-seeded Colony (9-4-1) opens its tourney against undefeated top seed Service (16-0-1) Thursday at 11 a.m. at Thunder Mountain High School in Juneau.

The Knights qualified for the state championships with a 3-1 win over Kenai Central in the NLC third-place game last Saturday.

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