The Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaat.at Kalé boys soccer team buried three goals in the opening 20 minutes to coast past Thunder Mountain High School 5-1 on Tuesday night at TMHS.
Junior Koby Goldstein scored three goals — including a beautiful header from Kanon Goetz eight minutes into the game — to lead the Crimson Bears to victory. Senior Richard Lehner, an exchange student from Austria, recorded the other two goals, and Goetz had multiple assists for the victors.
“Right from the start, we wanted to give it to them right away,” JDHS senior Jake Marnon said. “We wanted to start a lead and keep it going, and that’s what we did.”
[Photos: Juneau-Douglas boys take on Thunder Mountain]
Up 1-0, Goetz and Lehner used a two-man game to double the Crimson Bears’ advantage around the 10th minute. With Lehner matching him stride for stride as he charged up the field, Goetz kicked the ball to his open teammate and Lehner slotted the ball into the left side of the net.
Senior Jackson Norberg found Lehner for another goal less than 10 minutes later, before Goldstein took over with two more goals in the second half. TMHS senior Alan Plosay scored Thunder Mountain’s lone goal late in the second half, cleaning up a rebound that came bouncing off the crossbar.
The night was dedicated to the 12 Thunder Mountain High School seniors playing in their final home game. Several players recounted this season’s win against the Crimson Bears as their favorite memory on the team. That 2-1 victory last month was Thunder Mountain’s first-ever against JDHS, a perennial state soccer powerhouse that had previously lost just two conference games in 19 years.
“It seems to be an all mental game with these guys,” TMHS coach Josh Odum said. “There’s some days that we’re in it, there’s some days that we’re not quite primed.”
[From pretenders to contenders: JDHS ready for Region V meet]
With two more wins this weekend against Ketchikan, JDHS can earn an automatic berth to the state tournament next weekend in Anchorage.
Thunder Mountain will likely have to rely on an at-large berth in order to make the state playoffs, which takes into consideration its record against other Division II schools. The Falcons record at year’s end is 8-6, having defeated Ketchikan four times and Homer, JDHS, Soldotna and Grace Christian each once.
JDHS, meanwhile, has won nine of its last 11. The Crimson Bears’ only Alaska losses this season have come against TMHS and Service.
• Contact sports reporter Nolin Ainsworth at 523-2272 or nainsworth@juneauempire.com.
