Warriors open soccer season with wins

WASILLA — Forty-two days.

That’s the time that separated Wasilla’s first day of soccer practice and the Warriors first official matches of the 2018 season. Both Wasilla teams followed the long way with victories.

The Wasilla girls beat Bartlett 5-1 and the boys got past Chugiak 2-0 in matches Wednesday evening at Wasilla High School.

“I was a little bit concerned with game fitness coming in against a team that already has three games,” Wasilla girls head coach Patrick O’Neill said. “That was my biggest concern.”

But his players answered the challenge, O’Neill said.

“We had a pretty good rotation going,” O’Neill said.

Emily Summers scored three minutes into regulation to give the Wasilla girls the 1-0 lead.

“That goal was really big for us,” O’Neill said. “We settled down. The nerves settled down (after that).”

Summers led the Warriors with a pair of goals during the first 40 minutes, and helped Wasilla build a 4-0 first-half lead. Reese Sande and Nicole Catlett also scored first-half goals.

Sande added a goal off a Summers rebound in the second half. Bartlett scored its lone goal with about two minutes left in regulation.

Wasilla also hosted South Anchorage in boys’ and girls’ matches on Saturday, but results were unavailable prior to press time.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.