Warriors score nonconference win

May 11, 2007

By Jeremiah Bartz/ Frontiersman

WASILLA - Different conference, same result.

Before Thursday, the schedule of the Wasilla Warriors was made up completely by teams of the Northern Lights Conference.

But Wasilla's first nonconference game of the year was pretty similar to the Warriors' nine NLC games this season.

The Warriors pretty much dominated.

Wasilla scored twice in the first 16 minutes, and earned a 3-1 win over the Chugiak Mustangs at Wasilla High School.

&#8220It was nice to finally take on an Anchorage team,” said senior Jordan Ingalls, who led the Warriors with a goal and an assist in the win.

Ingalls scored his 19th goal of the year, extending his single-season school record, in the ninth minute of play.

Ingalls chased down a long Aaron Bean pass, and knocked a shot into the back of the net to give the Warriors the 1-0 advantage.

When Ingalls gained possession of the ball, Chugiak's sweeper came across the field and made contact with the WHS senior. Ingalls stumbled, but was able to recover, move by the Chugiak player and score.

Seven minutes later, Ingalls set up a Tillerman Kroon goal. With a header on the far side of the net, Ingalls was able to move the ball across the face of the goal, where Kroon stood alone to boot in the pass.

The goals by Ingalls and Kroon highlighted a first half controlled by the Warriors.

&#8220I felt like in the first half we did a good job of settling the ball down, knocking it around, playing some possession,” Wasilla head coach Blake Livingston said.

Wasilla took the three-goal advantage early in the second half, with a Joe Barkley score.

Chugiak used its physical play to pry some of the momentum away from the Warriors in the final 20 minutes of the game.

&#8220There were some bodies flying around,” Livingston said. &#8220We maybe got caught up in more of a direct style than we would have liked.”

Late in the contest, Chugiak was able to do one thing that eight other opponents have not been able to do against the Warriors this season - score.

Helped out by a goofy bounce, Tyler Hindmarch scored in the 78th minute to erase Wasilla's bid for its ninth shutout of the season.

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