Wasilla girls earn three soccer road wins

WASILLA — After a solid start to the 2013 season, the Wasilla Warriors girls soccer team was caught in a slide they couldn’t recover from. Wasilla ended its season with a long losing streak.

This season, the Warriors are once again off to a solid start. A focus this season for head coach Patrick O’Neill and his crew is preventing what happened last year from repeating itself. For a young team like Wasilla, a squad that features only one senior, the first long road trip of the season can create the struggles which leads to one of those long losing skids.

But the Warriors battled the adversity, and swept the three-game trip in dominant fashion. On the heels of a 14-0 win over Skyivew Thursday, Wasilla edged Homer 2-1 on Friday and capped the trip with a 13-0 win over Seward on Saturday.

“I’m pretty happy,” O’Neill said by cellphone after the lopsided win over Seward. “We got plenty of playing time, and got out of it healthy.”

O’Neill said the team battled rough conditions during the win at Homer Friday.

“It was cold, drizzly and muddy,” O’Neill said.

Alexa Starr and Lydia Phillips scored for the Warriors during the win. Starr scored during the first five minutes of play to give Wasilla the 1-0 lead. In the 60th minute, Starr ripped another shot on goal. The Homer goalkeeper made the save, but lost track of the rebound. Phillips knocked in the loose ball for the score.

Saturday, freshman Ally Hull enjoyed a six-point first half, and helped Wasilla win 13-0. Hull scored four goals and had two assists during the first 40 minutes of play. Starr, Phillips Daija Doughty each scored twice. Alia Donnely, Ashleigh Goplen and Courtney May also scored.

Homer 3, Wasilla 1

HOMER — The Homer boys scored a 3-1 Northern Lights Conference win over Wasilla Friday in Homer.

Kenneth Schneider scored twice for Homer. Max Mangue also scored.

Wasilla scored its lone goal, an Ethan Keenan tally, during the 77th minute of play.

Wasilla’s game at Seward, scheduled for Saturday, was canceled.