By KLAS STOLPE
Sentinel Staff Writer
The Sitka High coed soccer team opened their season on the pitch at Juneau’s Adair Kennedy Field last weekend, falling 6-0 on Friday and 7-0 on Saturday against one of the state’s most dominant junior varsity programs, the Juneau-Douglas Crimson Bears.
This was the first series of matches for new coach Chris Lamb and this year’s Wolves side.
“Soccer is a lot about possession,” Lamb said. “I’ve really tried to teach them to possess the ball. I try to use examples from professional soccer, MLS, and show them examples of how possession can build into something, a goal scoring opportunity. Just kicking the ball is pretty ineffective. My main goal is to teach them to receive the ball and get rid of it as fast as possible. Most of our drill encompass one, two, and three touch max soccer. Receiving it, getting rid of it, finding the open person and orchestrating an attack from that.”
While Sitka showed movement as a unit, the JDHS JV controlled possession of the ball for most of the match.
On Friday JDHS’ Roman Pegue scored at 29:09 of the first half, Owen Costello at 23:55, Mario and Ramirez at 16:22.
Sitka’s Asa Dow was fouled from roughly 30 yards out and had the first chance to put the Wolves on the board with 5:34 remaining in the half.
Dow’s free kick curved over the Crimson Bears defensive wall but just missed the opponents net.
In the second half JDHS’ Costello struck again at the 32:40 mark, Andre Peroivia at 30:40 and Reed Loree with 18:05 remaining.
Sitka junior Kyle Remington stopped 15 shots on goal during the match. The second-year keeper said he got a lot of action around the box.
“We lost four seniors last year,” Remington said. “But I feel confidant about this team. I understand the game more. I feel like this time around we are going to have a lot more conditioning. I felt like that was a little bit of a problem last year, not for our seniors, but some of our midfielders and stuff. We had more practices this year, it told us a lot, and we will improve next time. If they score on us, we don’t put our head down. It is as simple as that. The bottom line is to have fun. We may not be as competitive as JD, they have soccer posters all over their school, but the point for us was to have fun.”
Sitka goalkeeper Kyle Remington (47) readies to stop a Juneau-Douglas shot during the Wolves coed soccer team’s loss to the Crimson Bears junior varsity on Friday evening at Juneau’s Adair Kennedy Field. (Sentinel Photos by Klas Stolpe)
Remington had another big day during Saturday’s 7-0 loss, deflecting roughly 15 shots.
JDHS’ Riley Dietz scored just 15 seconds into the match, Mario Rameriz scored at 29:58 of the first half, Callan Smith at 19:52 and Georg Buchhardt at 16:36.
Sitka has a strong opportunity for a goal at the 13:09 mark of the first half as Dow took a pass from junior Abby Saiz and touched the ball along to junior Hanhen Behnken at the JDHS’ goal post but the JDHS keeper broke up the play.
Sitka’s Abby Saiz (11) starts a run with teammates Hanlen Behnken and Taylor Murray (14) during the Wolves coed soccer team’s loss to the Juneau-Douglas Crimson Bears junior varsity on Saturday at Juneau’s Adair Kennedy Field. (Sentinel Photo by Klas Stolpe)
That started a flurry of action from Sitka and Dow put a soft shot into the JD keepers hands at 10:22, and Behnken chased a ball into the box at 9:15.
Sitka junior Kai Frawley then stopped a JDHS push at midfield and put the ball into play for another Wolves miss. Frawley and Saiz were noted by coach Lamb for a solid weekend of soccer.
Remington stopped a barrage of shots with 2 minutes remaining in the first half for momentum heading into the break.
Throughout the first half senior Angelina Doggett was a thorn in the Crimson Bears boots, and was noted for being a powerhouse on defense over the weekend.
Coming out of the half Remington was again tested early and blocked three shots before junior Max Johnson blasted the ball out of bounds to allow the defense to set up.
“I love this team,” Johnson said. “I feel like every player is playing their hardest and they are all improving. Just in the last half of this game we got so much better, our touches were better. I feel like that is the toughest team we are going to play this year and we are going to keep practicing and will fix some of the stuff we had a hard time with today.”
The Wolves suffered a blow to during the second half as junior team captain Nellie Onalik went down with a knee injury. Onalik had put in one of the strongest defensive showing over the weekend, closing out the box area and midfield to protect the keepers line of sight and marking the JDHS attackers throughout.
Sitka’s Nellie Onalik is helped off the pitch by assistant coach Jose Rivera the Wolves coed soccer team’s loss to the Juneau-Douglas Crimson Bears junior varsity on Saturday at Juneau’s Adair Kennedy Field. (Sentinel Photo by Klas Stolpe)
Often outsized, Onalik continued to pick herself up from the pitch and return the same amount of physicality the Crimson Bears brought.
“It is really the adrenaline you get from being in game,” Onalik said. “I remember last year it was so much fun and then this year returning with such a great team, your teammates support you, they push you and that is how you really push through everything.”
JDHS would add goals by Sam Holst at 21:15, and a Sitka Own goal at 17:50 as JDHS’ Owen Costello crossed a pass off a Wolves defender into the net, and a final score from Will Rehfeldt in stoppage time.
Sitka had a strong push at 28:29 of the second half as freshman Aiden Bailey brought the ball close to the JDHS goal for a shot that went wide and again at 4:26 when Bailey took a pass from Saiz and Behnken and just put the shot wide again.
The Wolves did show a vast improvement in pitch position and coverages.
“Despite the outcome we definitely made significant improvements from last nights game,” coach Lamb said. “We made more fluid passes and saw the vision of the field. Soccer has a different language from any other sport, my goal is to incorporate that into Sitka soccer. I want them to experience the whole culture of the game is really important to me, that is where the real love of the game starts to ensue.”
Lamb grew up playing soccer in Seattle, graduating from Lake Washington High in 1994, and playing and earning a state championship at Bellview College in 1995. He then joined the United States Coast Guard and has been in service for 21 years.
Lamb stared officiating high school soccer while stationed in Astoria, Oregon, played in a Kodiak league while stationed there, and officiated high school soccer in Florida. While stationed in Astoria he was invited to try out for the All-Navy soccer team and made the final cut. A knee injury at that same time ended his run.
“Sitka is really unique,” Lamb said. “I was impressed with the turnout we got. They are very green but they are moldable. They are doing really good and the returning players have really showed a lot of improvement and leadership. I would like to build the program to where we have a strong varsity level team.”
Players traveling to Juneau were Saiz, Bailey, Johnson, Dow, Onalik, Remington, Doggett, Alice Howard, Amra Kojic, Caribeth Gundran, Darby Osborne, Harrison Lambeth, Kai Frawley, Kobi Weiland, Malin Marious, Mohan Arul, Nisreen Jenka, Rio Behnken, Tava Guillory, and Taylor Murray.
Sitka’s Aiden Bailey (13) tries to win a ball from a Juneau-Douglas player during the Wolves coed soccer team’s loss to the JDHS JV on Saturday at Adair Kennedy Field. (Sentinel Photos by Klas Stolpe)
The Sitka program has been coed since 2015 as they have not had enough of either gender to fill separate teams.
The Wolves had a soccer co-ed club in 2009-2010 under Ike Kahler and became a sanctioned co-ed team in 2011-2012 under Simon Connelly. They had upward of 40 boys and girls and had to raise funds for uniforms and travel. They played co-ed varsity and JV.
In 2013-2014, soccer became funded by the district and Eric Van Cise was boys coach and Keri Gray the girls coach. The boys played both varsity and JV competition and the girls played JV. Gradually, however, participation forced the change to the present level.
