Win clinches top seed for Wasilla

PALMER — The Wasilla Warriors may have suffered a pair of early-season losses to rivals Colony and Palmer. But now the Warriors are winning when it counts.

After beating Palmer for the first time in program history on Monday, the Warriors grabbed a 2-1 win over Colony at Colony High School on Wednesday.

With the win, the Warriors (4-0-0 in conference play) clinched the top seed from the Northern Lights Conference Northern Division in the upcoming NLC tournament for the first time in Katie Broeder’s five-year run as head coach.

“We’ve never done that. We always go in seeded last,” Broeder joked after the game.

Broeder believes the Warriors may also be a top seed for the first time in school history. Regardless, Wasilla finds itself in foreign territory, but an area the Warriors are glad to be in.

“It’s a confidence booster going into regions,” Wasilla senior co-captain Randi Smith said.

In the last two weeks, the Warriors have scored a handful of historically significant victories. Prior to posting its first win over Palmer, Wasilla beat Grace Christian for the first time during Broeder’s tenure as head coach and Homer for the first time in three years.

Smith said her team’s desire and work ethic are central to Wasilla’s success.

“It’s amazing. We all have so much heart,” Smith said. “Everyone’s willing to give 100 percent. We don’t have any slackers this year.”

Freshman Amy Jo Coonrod scored a pair of second-half goals to help the Warriors beat the Knights and clinch a top seed.

Coonrod took a Smith corner kick and booted a shot into the back of the Colony net during the 46th minute to tie the score at 1-1.

The freshman posted the game-winner in the 56th minute.

“She was hungry. She came off the bench will a lot of intensity,” Broeder said of the young Wasilla forward. “We recognized that and kept her in there. She earned both goals.”

Coonrod’s second goal was set up by the efforts of a pair of teammates — freshman Ashlynn Frizzelle and sophomore Rachel Kennedy.

Frizzelle worked the ball down the right side of the field, sprinting past the Colony defense. After Frizzelle put a shot on goal, Kennedy took possession of the rebound and moved the ball over to Coonrod, who stood alone in the front of the net.

The Knights scored only once in the game despite keeping pressure on the Wasilla defense throughout the contest.

After the game Broeder said she told her team, “I’m glad we won, but we’re lucky we won.

“They had a lot more shots than we did,” Broeder said. “They had a lot more opportunities.”

Broeder praised the efforts three players on Wasilla’s defensive side — sophomore Krizia Verplancke, junior co-captain Tabor Tingstad and junior goalkeeper Sammy Becker.

While Verplancke and Tingstad were able to push pressure away from the net on numerous occasions, Becker didn’t hesitate to dive into action and made a handful of potentially game-saving stops.

“She never gives up,” Smith said of Becker. “It’s really nice to have a goalie back there who never gives up no matter how many goals are scored.”

Colony junior Kara Larson was a big reason why the Wasilla defense stayed busy throughout the match.

Larson gave the Knights a 1-0 lead in the 8th minute, and had more opportunities to score as the game went on.

In the 8th minute, sophomore Katie Gonski chipped the ball up to Larson, who maneuvered past a Wasilla defender, and popped a short shot into the upper shelf of the net.

Larson nearly gave the Knights the two-goal lead in the ninth minute. Larson broke free from the Wasilla defense and put a hard, left-footed shot on goal, but Becker, who came away from the net to challenge the play, was able to get her right hand on the ball and deflected the shot away from the net.

“She’s a great player,” Broeder said of Larson. “She makes really hard runs; gets behind players. You kind of lose her.”

Larson’s best chances came in the first 40 minutes. Broeder said the Warriors were forced to make adjustments before the second half.

“We subbed a lot of our people out just to talk,” Broeder said. “We had to adjust.”

Larson did have her moments in the second half, too.

In the 66th minute, Larson had consecutive chances to tie the game. Following a Gonski corner kick, Larson put a header on net that hit the crossbar. Becker needed a diving save to stop Larson’s shot off the rebound.

The top-seeded Warriors now look to the NLC tournament where they’ll face the fourth-seeded team from the Southern Division Thursday at 5 p.m. at Soldotna Middle School.

With the loss, Colony (2-1-1) could enter the tourney as either the second or third seed. Palmer (1-1-1) caps the regular season with a match against Grace Christian Saturday at Anchorage Football Stadium. A Palmer win would pit the Moose and Knights in a tie for second place. Because of the team’s 3-3 tie on Tuesday, a series of tiebreakers would have to be used to determine the seeding. The official brackets will be released by the tourney’s host, Soldotna, on Monday.

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