Co-coach John Newell leads his team through drills during Thunder Mountain High School girls varsity soccer practice at TMHS on Monday. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire)

Co-coach John Newell leads his team through drills during Thunder Mountain High School girls varsity soccer practice at TMHS on Monday. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire)

Here’s a look at the TMHS boys and girls soccer teams’ 2018 season

Girls soccer

It’s a good thing the Thunder Mountain High School girls soccer team is deep in seniors.

That makes coach John Newell’s job of integrating a handful of freshmen and sophomores onto the team much easier.

“I’ve got some really strong seniors that I’ve been coaching for a long time both in club and in high school and middle school,” Newell said. “Those seniors are really helping out our younger players come together as a team. It’s really good to see them working with our younger players and getting them going rather than just assuming that they don’t have to help out.”

The team will be counting on some of the newcomers to firm up its defense. The team lost two key defenders from last season: senior Elena Bryson and junior Meghan Penrose.

“Last year we had a very strong defensive lineup,” Newell said. “Losing one of our center defenders (Bryson), who went off to college, and then Meghan, who went down to the states, we’re having to cover that center defender position which is tough to do.”

Newell said the goal for this season is just to play as a team. Senior captain Azure Briggs knows wins will be hard to come by against Juneau-Douglas High School. That’s why she too is not consumed with winning at all costs.

“I don’t think we’re too focused on winning, as long we played how we know we could play,” Briggs said.

Schedule

The Falcons play next Friday evening against West Anchorage. The team plays on the road the next two weeks before returning home for their final four conference games of the season.

The girls dropped two games to JDHS at the end of last month. Sophomore Keana Villanueva and senior Cierra McCain scored in a 5-2 loss the first night. The Falcons were shutout 4-0 the following night.

TMHS feels they will be more competitive with JDHS in their next two matches.

“The majority of the goals were breakaways,” senior Raye Coffee said. “So those can always be prevented if you can work on the right things. … I definitely think it was more of a learning game.”

State tournament history

It’s been four years since the program last played in the state tournament. TMHS lost to South Anchorage in the first round and Lathrop in the consolation round at the 2014 state tournament.

The Falcons finished seventh at the 2013 state tournament, also.

Boys soccer

Thunder Mountain High School boys soccer coach Josh Odum came up with a new motto for this season.

“Our goal is full 90, that’s kind of our motto this year,” Odum said.

Technically, high school soccer games are only 80 minutes long, but even that duration will test the depth on the Falcons this year. The team’s numbers this year hover around 25 players.

Fortunately, most of Odum’s players are already in good shape. Many of them joined a voluntary running club or played winter sports.

Keeping up with crosstown rival JDHS is a perennial challenge for the program. The lion’s share of experienced players choose to play downtown rather than at TMHS. But that hasn’t stopped Odum’s current group from developing their own pride.

“Specifically with this year’s team, there’s a strong bond, there’s a deeper camaraderie than what I’ve seen in the past, which is what we’ve been building for,” Odum said. “That will ultimately be our launching point into a more competitive program.”

Schedule

The TMHS boys play against JDHS in their first two games of the season tonight and Monday. The Falcons then will join the girls team on the road for games against Palmer, Chugiak and Redington during the first week of May.

The Falcons will rematch the Crimson Bears on May 8 and May 16 before jetting away to Ketchikan for their final games of the season May 18-19.

State tournament history

The team has yet to make the state tournament. In order to do that this year, they’ll have to start winning more games against their tough regional challengers: JDHS and Ketchikan. The Falcons have never defeated JDHS in program history.


• Contact sports reporter Nolin Ainsworth at 523-2272 or nainsworth@juneauempire.com. Follow Empire Sports on Twitter at @akempiresports.


Michael Penn | Juneau Empire File Thunder Mountain’s Riley Lawlar, right, competes against West Valley’s Elijah Nelson for the ball at TMHS last season.

Michael Penn | Juneau Empire File Thunder Mountain’s Riley Lawlar, right, competes against West Valley’s Elijah Nelson for the ball at TMHS last season.

Senior Cierra McCain runs through drills during Thunder Mountain High School girls varsity soccer practice at TMHS on Monday. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire)

Senior Cierra McCain runs through drills during Thunder Mountain High School girls varsity soccer practice at TMHS on Monday. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire)

Junior Sally Thompson runs through drills during Thunder Mountain High School girls varsity soccer practice at TMHS on Monday. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire)

Junior Sally Thompson runs through drills during Thunder Mountain High School girls varsity soccer practice at TMHS on Monday. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire)

More in Sports

The Wet Bandits’ Shannon Hendricks and the Nutcrackers’ Kyle Hebert play a ball during the opening night of the Holiday Cup soccer tournament at the Dimond Park Field House on Wednesday. The 32nd annual holiday tournament runs through Dec. 31. (Klas Stolpe / Juneau Empire)
Pure Sole: Mistletoe or turf toe

Forget the mistletoe. I fear it may be turf toe that tickles… Continue reading

The Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé Crimson Bears girls basketball team pose at The Orleans Hotel upon their arrival in Las Vegas for the Tarkanian Classic Tournament. (Photo courtesy JDHS Crimson Bears)
Crimson Bears girls win season opener at Tarkanian Classic

JDHS among 48 girls’ teams playing in prestigious Las Vegas tournament.

The Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé Crimson Bears boys basketball team pose upon their arrival in Las Vegas for the Tarkanian Classic Tournament. (Photo courtesy JDHS Crimson Bears)1
Crimson Bears boys fall in Las Vegas tournament opener

JDHS playing among some of nation’s top high school teams.

Evening walks are great. Put a few pounds in a backpack and you’ll increase the health benefits of light exercise. (Photo by Jeff Lund)
I Went to the Woods: Numbers worth noting

Everything is being reduced to numbers which my math department friends down… Continue reading

The Holiday Cup has been a community favorite event for years. This 2014 photo shows the Jolly Saint Kicks and Reigning Snowballs players in action. (Klas Stolpe / Juneau Empire)
Holiday Cup soccer action brings community spirit to the pitch

Every Christmas name imaginable heads a cast of futbol characters starting Wednesday.

Members of the Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé Crimson Bears girls and boys basketball teams pose above and below the new signage and plaque for the George Houston Gymnasium on Monday. (Klas Stolpe / Juneau Empire)
George Houston Gymnasium adds another touch of class

Second phase of renaming honor for former coach brings in more red.

A pygmy owl in the snow outside the doorstep of a Juneau home. (Photo by Denise Carroll)
On the Trails: Pygmy owls

This little owl was quite frequently detected in the trees at the… Continue reading

Smokin’ Old Geezers Jesse Stringer, Brandon Ivanowicz, Steve Ricci, Juan Orozco Jr., John Bursell and John Nagel at the USATF National Club Cross Country Championships on Saturday at University Place, Washington. (Photo courtesy S.O.G.)
Smokin’ Old Geezers compete at national club cross-country championships

Group of adult Juneau runners hope to inspire others to challenge themselves.

Hayden Aube and Ivan Shockley go head to head on Friday, Dec. 13, 2024, during the Region V wrestling tournament in Haines. Eleven Crimson Bears earned individual titles, 12 placed second meaning that 23 are headed to state in Anchorage next weekend. (Rashah McChesney/Chilkat Valley News)
Crimson Bears wrestlers snare Region V championship

11 earn individual titles, 12 place second, 23 head to state

Most Read