Valley soccer squads battling through the regular season

WASILLA — When Patrick O’Neill took the helm of the Wasilla High School girls soccer program four years ago, the Warriors head coach immediately saw the talent in the freshman class. Those players are now seniors. And O’Neill is very excited about the potential of his 2015 squad.

“When you look at the program, this was really a year we highlighted,” O’Neill said recently. “I was telling the girls, from a coaching standpoint, you always want to coach the players you have in that season, but it’s impossible not to look ahead a year or two. I told the girls, last year wasn’t a throw away, next year’s not a throw away. But this year, as a team, you look around and you see the senior leadership, the depth, the skill.”

The group includes three seniors who are four-year starters with the Warriors: Alexa Starr, Alexis Abbott and Teyonnah Williams.

“We have high expectations this year. We have a whole bunch of experience, a bunch of skill, and a whole lot of depth,” O’Neill said.

The Warriors have also changed the overall game plan to accommodate their talent.

“We’re playing a different system this year. It puts a lot of emphasis with Alexa as a distributor,” O’Neill said. “With three forwards as opposed to two or one, like we did last year, (Alexa is) going to be able to look up and see all the different options she’s got.”

Wasilla’s depth includes junior Daija Doughty, and sophomores Ally Hull, Jodie Richey and Alia Donley.

Wasilla, which travels to Homer and Soldotna this weekend, has started its Northern Lights Conference season strong, with victories over rivals Colony and Palmer. Wasilla has also played a tough nonconference schedule. The list of matches includes defending state champion South Anchorage, 2014 runner-up Service, and Lathrop, which finished sixth at state last year.

The Wasilla girls are one of three Valley teams that advanced to the state tournament last year. The Wasilla boys finished tied for seventh in state, after beating rival Colony in the NLC boys’ championship game.

Wasilla head coach Blake Livingston said the overall goal, once again, is to do well at regions and advance to state, and will use hard work as a way to achieve team goals.

“We are a blue collar team, and will leave everything on the field,” Livingston said. “We are in the process of learning from both our triumphs and bumps in the road over the course of the season.”

Wasilla’s leaders include striker Grig Lozko; midfielders Kyle Broach and Carson Dodd; fullbacks Layne Morrison and Kristian Palaniuk; and goalkeeper Nikita Antonov.

Colony entered the 2015 season as the defending boys state champions. The Knights won their second title in school history with a 3-2 double-overtime win over Dimond High School. The Knights did lose a number of key players from their championship run, but Colony does have another talented squad.

“I’m happy with what we have. You know as high school coaches, you get a kid for a max of four years. It’s tough to lose a Ben Atkinson, Chaz Stephens, Chris Olsen, etc., but there’s always a new crop of kids coming up, and all of the other players have improved,” said Jeremy Johnson, the head coach of the Knights for the past 21 seasons.

Among Johnson’s leaders are senior captains Harrison Menard and Austin Richardson. Junior’s Ben Sande and Cameron Shaw have already provided much of the scoring punch for CHS. Sande netted his fourth hat trick of the year during a lopsided win over Houston earlier this week. Colony’s goalkeeper is senior Zach Zmuda. Johnson also expects good things from junior center midfielder Alex Valdez.

The Colony girls missed the state tournament last season. But the Knights were also missing Peyton Johnstone, who as a freshman in 2013, led the Knights to their first state quarterfinal win in nearly a decade. Johnstone, the 2013 Northern Lights Conference Player of the Year, played in the Lower 48 last season. This year, she’s back with the Knights as a junior.

Johnstone opened her junior season by scoring a pair of goals in a 3-1 win over rival Palmer.

“It’s really nice to have somebody who’s got that ability to read the field,” longtime Colony head coach Lorie Miner said of Johnstone.

The return of Johnstone adds to a core of talent Miner is very excited about. That group includes senior captain Bristyl Baker, junior Ripley Wakaliuk and sophomore Sahara Iverson.

The Palmer girls sport a fairly young team this year. Captain Katie McCall is the team’s lone senior in the starting lineup. Juniors Kiana Till and Katy Bowman are also juniors. Sophomore’s Haley Hanson and Tiana Lee are among Palmer’s underclassmen to watch, head coach Harmony Chadwick said. Chadwick also noted freshman Kiley Fish, a starter in the midfield who has moved back to defense to help fill the void left by junior captain Elliese Wright, who was lost for the season due to injury.

The PHS girls are in search of their first trip to state since 2007.

The Palmer boys are also in search of its first state tournament berth a long stretch. The Moose last qualified in 2006.

Palmer, led by first-year head coach Jason Rice, will have a number of veteran upperclassmen to help lead the charge this year. That group includes seniors Lucas Clark, Josh Houston and Artur Kavaliov.