Warriors dim Stars in OT for third place

PALMER — After scoring more than 20 goals as a freshman, Wasilla sophomore Kendra Miner came into the Northern Lights Conference tournament with just one score this season.

But Miner couldn’t have found a better time to post No. 2.

Miner scored seven minutes into overtime to lead the Warriors to a 3-2 win over Soldotna in the Northern Lights Conference Championships third-place match at Palmer High School on Saturday.

“(Soldotna goalkeeper Becca Satathite) is an exceptional goalie. To put that in was a great moment,” Miner said of her score, which also guaranteed the Warriors the conference’s final state tournament berth.

During the 87th minute, Miner and fellow sophomore Ashlynn Frizzelle traded passes before Miner was able to move a shot past Satathite.

After Frizzelle took control of possession at midfield, she passed the ball over to Miner, who quickly moved it back. Frizzelle briefly held the ball again before chipping it ahead to Miner. As Satathite moved forward to challenge, Miner got by and chased the ball into the net.

“The connecting passes,” Miner said of the play. “That’s what we need to do the whole game.”

Wasilla needed the Frizzelle-Miner connection late in regulation to force overtime. With Soldotna holding the 2-1 lead, Frizzelle knocked in a rebound of a Miner shot during the 78th minute to tie the score at 2.

Miner, who had a breakaway attempt stopped by Satathite earlier in the half, got back into the Soldotna box and put a shot on net. Satathite made the save, but Frizzelle crashed to get the score.

“Ashlynn was following,” Miner said. “We’ve been working on that in practice, following our shots. It’s good to see that hard work pays off.”

Frizzelle, who was named first-team All-NLC following the tournament, had spent most of her sophomore year on the defensive end of the field, before coming up with a goal and an assist on Saturday.

“Ashlynn is someone we tried at forward last year. That worked out pretty well, but we know defense is where she’s most effective,” Wasilla head coach Amber Craig said. “The nice thing about Ashlynn, in the end, she loves to score goals.”

Frizzelle’s work helped erase a strong start to the second half for the Stars. Soldotna scored twice during a five-minute span early in the half to take the 2-1 lead.

During the 42nd minute, freshman Phobe Napolitano knocked in a Jessi Stenga cross to tie the game at 1-1.

Five minutes later, Stenga somehow split through Wasilla junior Krizia Verplancke and Warriors goalkeeper Sammy Becker in the left side of the box, and snuck a shot into the far side of the net.

“They came out like they needed to right away in the second half,” Craig said of the Stars.

Becker made a handful of key saves to keep the Stars from advancing to the state tournament for the second time in program history, but the Wasilla backline also made a few saves of their own.

During the 22nd minute, about 10 minutes after Nikki Vanni gave the Warriors the 1-0 lead, Wasilla junior Celaena Powder kicked the ball away from an open Wasilla net to preserve the lead.

Becker came out of the goalie box to kick a ball free, but her kick bounced off a Soldotna player and back toward the WHS net.

Soldotna sophomore Kaili Sholin tried to chase the ball into the open net, but with Becker out of position, Powder sprinted over to kick the ball free.

With just two minutes left in the last of a pair of 10-minute overtimes, Becker once again came out of the box to challenge. But this time, the senior fell to the ground trying to make a save. Just as the ball bounced away from Becker, Verplancke and senior Maija Kellner-Rode immediately dropped back in front of the goal to prevent a potential score.

“Instinctively, the knew Sammy was out and on the ground,” Craig said. “So the first thing they did was get back there.”

With three Soldotna bodies in front of the net, the Stars were able to knock the ball around the box, but couldn’t find the back of the net before Becker recovered.

Stenga also hit the crossbar during the 98th minute.

“We had several opportunities,” Soldotna head coach Mike Tovoli said. “Five, six opportunities. We just couldn’t do it. It wasn’t our year to find the back of the net and advance this year.”

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