Retiring teacher, coach urges Colony grads to ‘find their 68’
By Jeremiah Bartz Frontiersman.com A football coach using a hockey reference as the centerpiece for his keynote address may
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WASILLA — Regardless of how many times the Wasilla Warriors find the back of the net, first-year head coach Patrick O’Neill has preached to keep up the pressure.
On Thursday, the Warriors didn’t score after the 20-minute mark, but Wasilla kept pressure on the Homer defense for the majority of the match.
Wasilla scored twice in the first 20 minutes and scored a 2-0 Northern Lights Conference girls soccer win over the Homer Mariners at Wasilla High School.
“Relentless is kind of the theme of our practices and how we want to play,” O’Neill said after the victory. “Just keep constant pressure on the other team. I would have liked to have finished a few more chances, obviously, but I’m pretty happy with the entire team effort.”
Haleigh Ryneski and Nikki Vanni scored to help Wasilla improve to 3-0 overall. Ryneski picked up a loose ball during the 15th minute and tucked a shot into the corner of the Homer net to give the Warriors the 1-0 lead. Five minutes later, Vanni capped a give-and-go play with freshman Alexa Starr by knocking in a shot from 10 yards out.
Wasilla also held Homer without an official shot on net.
“The keeper had to come up and scoop up some long balls, but we didn’t give up a shot or a corner (kick),” O’Neill said.
In boys’ action, Homer and Wasilla played to a scoreless tie.
Homer hit the crossbar twice in the match and had another shot pushed into the crossbar by Wasilla goalkeeper Corey Hogan.
During the 13th minute, Mario Glosser came down the right side and put a shot from a sharp angle off the nearside post near the crossbar. In the 31st minute, Homer sent a ball through the midfield toward the goal. The ball took a bad bounce over the head of Hogan, who pushed the ball up and bounced it off the crossbar.
Homer knocked another shot of the crossbar early in the second half.
The games are part of a three-day stretch for the Warriors. Wasilla is at Grace Christian today and hosts Houston on Saturday.
Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com and follow him at twitter.com/matsu_sports.
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