New Year’s Eve champions crowned at Holiday Cup

Twelve teams were fast and furious, young and old and highly skilled in “the beautiful game” known as soccer during the championships Tuesday of the 32nd annual Holiday Cup soccer tournament at the Dimond Park Field House.

Six teams held more grace, passion and artistry than their opponents to win division titles, beginning with the morning matchup in the Elementary Division (whose players were at least 9 years old) between the Nutmeggers and the Jolly Jugglers.

The Nutmeggers’ Milo Johnson and the Jolly Jugglers’ Weston Warner each scored a goal in the opening minutes of action, and then the Jolly Jugglers’ Landon Gamulo scored with 18 minutes and 17:12 remaining in the first half for a 3-1 lead.

Johnson would strike back, scoring at 8:02 and 6:16 to tie the game for the Nutmeggers until Sage Burick gave the Jolly Jugglers a 4-3 advantage with 1:55 left in the first half.

“I just get the ball and dribble it up, pass it or just score,” Johnson said. “I scored five…I have scored nine before…It is just that you have to dribble through a lot of people and people can just get the ball from you at any time. I have a lot of good teammates around me.”

The second half of 25 minutes began with a goal-tending exhibition by the Nutmeggers’ Cirion Eddy, who stopped three shots in the first six minutes.

“What I do in the game is I have to deflect the ball and catch it and just make sure it doesn’t go in the goal,” Eddy said. “It was pretty exciting. I just stayed calm.”

Teammate Memphis Perez tied the game 4-4 at the 14:14 mark, and Johnson scored twice, at 12:16 and 10:16, for a 6-4 lead.

Warner brought the Jolly Jugglers to within 6-5 with a goal at 7:26, but Emmett Boucher put in a score at 5:36 for the 7-5 final.

The Nutmeggers championship team also included Cohen Calhoon, Kristen Ray Del Rosario, Tempe Escamilla, Juniper Karmyn Jackson, Sienna Miller and Kai Fisher.

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The Middle School (grades 6, 7 and 8) title game was one for the history books as Tinsel Toes needed an extra period to defeat Santa’s Strikers 5-4.

Tinsel Toes’ Max Montalbo scored at 19:50 of the first half and that held until Santa’s Strikers’ Bode Winkelman tied the game at the 9:16 mark.

With 1:14 left in the first half, Mack Host gave the Tinsel Toes a 2-1 advantage and twin brother Mitch Host stopped a late shot.

In the second half, Montalbo blasted a corner kick off the keeper and into the goal for a 3-1 Tinsel Toes lead at the 20:28 mark.

“It feels pretty good, I guess,” Montalbo said. “I am just trying to keep a positive attitude and keep my team in check, just make sure they are playing and having fun.”

Santa’s Strikers got goals in succession from Winkelman and Andrew Erickson at 7:07 and 6:18, respectively to tie the game at 3-3.

“They have some good players,” Erickson said. “I was just trying to stay compact and composed when they are dribbling…On offense I was trying to create scoring chances with through balls and beating defenders.”

Tinsel Toes’ defender Nehir Aurora Caf was crucial in stopping another key scoring run.

“When I play defense, I like to stay on the person who has the ball,” she said. “And pressure them to either go off the yellow line or to kick the ball that is someplace really weird, like really random and not their teammate.”

Montalbo scored at 5:46 for the 4-3 Tinsel Toes lead and the game was about to end, but a corner kick from Santa’s Strikers’ Erickson hit Montalbo for an own goal to tie the game with just 30 seconds left.

“I just tried to hit it as hard as I could,” Erickson said. “And have it knock off one of the players, and I got lucky.”

The two sides played an eight-minute extra period which came down to the final 25 seconds and Tinsel Toes’ Lily Roomsburg saved their undefeated tournament record with a goal.

“I wasn’t thinking I was going to score,” Roomsburg said. “But I am really glad that I did, and I had a rush of excitement. I was really excited. It was fun.”

Montalbo said, “I just practice my shot a lot at home.”

The Tinsel Toes title roster also included Quinton Burick, Elijah Edgar, Colden Delay, Arnold Indreland, El Lasinski, Ezekiel Kilmer and Sawyer Wery-Vreeland.

•••

The future of Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé soccer was showcased during the High School (grades 9-12) championship between Jingle Ballers and North Pole United.

Jingle Ballers’ Atagan Hood won a race to the ball in front of North Pole United’s box and muscled in a 1-0 lead at the 12:26 mark of the first half.

“My mindset was just to get the ball into the goal, kind of whatever it took,” Hood said. “Just throw myself into the goal and hopefully the ball with me…It was just a lucky chance for me, the ball bounced and I was able to put it in.”

Teammate Kai Ciambor rocketed in a shot for a 2-0 advantage at 4:39 after both teams had established a physical, yet clean, cross-pitch derby.

Key for Jingle Ballers was the defensive play of Jesper Bennetsen.

“I am more of a sweeper keep,” Bennetsen said. “So I help other players, like I coordinate the system of defense, and then when I need to step I’ll press but I am kind of more of a last resort. It worked well.”

Jingle Ballers keeper Callan Walker also came through as hard shots pinged his box.

“So I am just basically trying to get the ball out as soon as possible,” Walker said. “And if there is time left and we are winning I just waste time.”

Ciambor hit a hard corner kick on goal that teammate Kaia Mangaccat played on a rebound for a 3-0 lead just moments into the second half.

North Pole United struck back with a goal by Fixx Siner at 17:25 and Maddox Carroll at 11:24 to trail 3-2 and have a momentum boost.

“It is really exciting to have these close games in Juneau,” Carroll said. “And I think it is really competitive but we all stay friends and stuff so I really like it. It is fun.”

The match kept shifting back and forth until a loose ball again became a race between Jingle Ballers’ Hood and the North Pole United keeper and Hood gave his side the 4-2 lead at 6:58.

“It is really hard,” North Pole United midfielder Peyton Wheeler said of her solid work on the pitch. “They are a really good team and they have a lot of confidence, but it felt good. It was good to play against my friends and just see how everybody has grown over the year…I am definitely going to take this into the high school season.”

North Pole United freshman Ayla Erickson said, “It is really fun in the high school division now, playing with older kids and I like everyone is playing together and against different teams with their friends, having competition in Juneau. And it is really cool because people come back here just for this tournament, just to play with everyone.”

Kellen Chester put an insurance goal in at 1:15 to keep the win with the Jingle Ballers 5-2.

“Oh man, the Holiday Cup is fun,” Ciambor said. “I love getting to play with all the people I have grown up with. And it is fun getting to play with some of my friends that are girls, you don’t usually get to practice with them or scrimmage with them so it is just a fun experience.”

The Jingle Ballers title roster also included Adelyn Buss, Kellen Chester, Serena Crupi, Cerys Hudson, Owen Woodruff, Owen Rumsey and Gracie Synder.

•••

The soccer play ratcheted up a notch as graduated former players and current college players battled in the Seniors & College (through age 21) division with Iced Out taking a 10-3 win over Grinch Gang.

Iced Out got a spinning heel kick goal from Tayten Bennetsen just minutes into action, countering an early score by the Grinch Gang’s Logan Miller.

“It is hard out there,” Bennetsen said. “You just go as hard as you can…get goals, get good assists, have a great team and be able to work with everyone around you.”

Bennetsen, pursuing a computer science and cognitive science double major at Rice University, was looking forward to this tournament.

“Holiday Cup is the best thing ever,” he said. “Being home for the holidays and finally getting together with friends especially after going to college, it has been great for me.”

Iced Out’s Preston Lam put in a nice touch for a 2-1 lead at the 21:22 mark and teammate Kean Buss hit from just outside the box for a 3-1 advantage at 16:20.

Iced Out keeper Kaidree Hartman had three stops on hard blasts in the opening stanza to protect the lead.

“Just being confident,” Hartman said. “I know I had a great defense out there and so just being there as a last line of defense and that our defense got most of it.”

Grinch Gang’s Talon Briggs broke through at the 12:50 mark to pull his squad within 3-2.

Iced Out’s Darin Tingey answered seconds later to push the lead to 4-2 at the 12:32 mark.

Grinch Gang’s Miller put in a rocket to pull within 4-3 with 2:35 left in the first half.

“Holiday Cup is when I get to see all my friends, come back home and play soccer with all my friends,” Grinch Gang captain Miller said. He is playing college at Oregon Institute of Technology. “I have been playing soccer with all my friends since I was like six, and play against them, like this time Phillip and Preston…It is good to play against them and see everybody. And also something to be thankful for, I’ve been doing this all my life.”

While the second half featured two incredible displays of physical and artistic soccer ability, the goals went one-sided.

Iced Out connected to the Grinch Gang’s net six times for the 10-3 win.

Bennetsen scored at 20:52, Phillip Lam at 20:05, Preston Lam at 11:35 off a corner kick by Buss, Buss on a header at 9:24, Buss on a rebound at 5:25 and Phillip Lam with 15 seconds left in the game.

“The competition aspect is always there,” Iced Out captain Phillip Lam said. He is playing at Edmonds College with his brother Preston. “Even though there were not as many teams as last year it was still really fun.”

“It was really fun being back home and playing with all these guys I’ve known for years,” Iced Out midfielder Mackenzie Olver said. She is playing soccer and studying at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon. “It is just fun to play soccer back at home again.”

Iced Out’s winning roster also included Daily Prohim, Ammon Kawakami, Alysah Forde-Nihipali, Molly Brocious, Julia Robinson, Mercedes Cordero and Darin Tingey.

Blake Plummer, home on holidays from the University of Northern British Columbia, and sister Cadence Plummer, home from Spokane Community College, were teammates on Grinch Gang.

“Holiday Cup means a lot to me,” B. Plummer said. “The field house was my home when I was really little. I would spend like eight hours a day here. I’d stay here all day. My mom and dad would have to force me to leave so coming back is a treat definitely after being away, and just seeing everybody I played with in the past is like super fun. And with my sister again. And growing up playing with everybody is awesome.”

•••

In the Classic (ages 35 and up) championship, the Chilkat Bandits defeated the Wet Bandits 3-1.

Jamaal Bailey scored at 17:45 and 2:12 of the first half for the Chilkat Bandits.

“I have been doing this since I was in my mid-twenties and even when I was a teen,” Wet Bandits keeper Phillip Subeldia said. “I think what is special about this is seeing people you haven’t seen for ages and just catching up with folks. Just seeing everybody back and enjoying the game. It is one of the coolest things about the year.”

Pete Schneider scored for the Wet Bandits at 20:02 of the second half to cut the deficit to 3-2, but minutes later Kiel Urata gave the Chilkat group a 3-1 lead at the 17:16 mark and the score stood through the rest of the game.

“I have been playing since the inaugural Holiday Cup,” Chilkat Bandits captain Ephraim Froehlich said. “I’ve missed a couple but it is my favorite time of year. I refuse to leave town this time of year because all my friends come home and we get to play soccer. Our team is pretty much the 2004 Crimson Bears starting lineup and we are getting a little bit older, but we’re still doing it. In my mind we look the same, but our bodies are different. We are nursing injuries every year, it is a battle of attrition. Whatever team keeps the most players healthy wins.”

That lineup would have been Froehlich, Alex Newton, Kiel Urata, Cameron Mitchell and underclassman Jamaal Bailey. The Chilkat Bandits also included Alida Bus, Courtney Preziosi, Matt Greely, Eva Carrillo, Sam Muse, Nathan Schroeder, Tasha Heumann, Ryan Walters, Monica Daugherty, Samantha Hawkins and Eli Wray.

•••

The Masters (ages 22-35) championship saw Eggnog and Nutmegs defeat Slay Bells 8-2.

“I think Holiday Cup is a lot of fun to give adults a chance to play competitive games that they don’t always get,” Eggnog and Nutmegs’ captain Mitchell White said. “It is also just fun to get the community coming together, whether they are playing or watching it is a lot of fun. You can feel the energy in the field house, which is something we all enjoy. This year was just as good as previous years. I think it has been great every year.”

Eggnog and Nutmegs goals came from White, Charles Gumbi, Brittany Wilderon (2 goals), Tobie Weston, David Lopez and Kim Ledger (two goals). The team also included Jenevieve Clauss, Colin Flynn, Isaac Stark, Karli Scott, Dylan Proudfoot and Pat Race.

Slay Bells goals came from Aaron Badilla and captain Henry Melville.

“I have been playing Holiday Cup since I was 10,” Melville said. “It is just like a staple of Juneau. So fun to get everyone together. Some of these guys I’ve just met this year, and playing with them you become like a real family and play together and just have a great time…I think you build up history. You play with the same people year after year and you get to know each other, see each other every year, some who come back to Juneau every year, so super fun.”

This year’s sweatshirt design contest winner, elementary student Makenna Paddleford, was at the championships and commented on her design that she said was inspired by her family.

“I like being together with my friends and family in the holidays,” Paddleford said.

She said winning the design contest “has been really great” and she plans to design more in the future.

“I like to do art,” she said.

And her art was worn by nearly all the 31 festive, holiday-themed teams and roughly 380 cheery players as the annual tournament had come to a close.

• Contact Klas Stolpe at klas.stolpe@juneauempire.com.