Grace Christian girls soccer coach Jeff Schaezlein couldn’t help but take notice of the persisting nature of the snowpack as the team drove down from Anchorage on Friday for a game at Kenai Central High School.
“On the drive down here, I was like, ‘There’s still a lot of snow on the side of the road,’” Schaezlein said. “They told us it was clear. I hope it’s clear. It’d be disappointing to find out that it’s not.”
The soccer field, and most of the track too, was clear enough for the Grizzlies girls to notch a 1-0 nonconference victory over the Kardinals. The Grace boys topped the Kardinals 3-0.
“It’s been a labor of love and a lot of work,” Kenai girls head coach Dan Verkuilen said of getting the field cleared for an April 1 game.
Verkuilen and Kenai boys coach Shane Lopez thanked the City of Kenai and Toad Vann for providing and operating equipment that did the bulk of the clearing. Verkuilen then spent over 20 hours touching up the details that made the field playable.
The longtime Kenai girls coach still remembers the days before the turf field, when games were contested on grass fields. All of those blades of grass were still covered in snow Friday.
“This is a blessing,” Verkuilen said. “I don’t ever remember playing a game April 1.”
The deciding play in the girls game came when Leah Buller played the ball to Sophia Coverdell in the center of the box and Coverdell converted the shot.
Grace moved to 1-1 overall after losing to Colony 6-1 at The Dome in Anchorage on Thursday.
“It was tough playing Colony, a big school, yesterday,” Schaezlein said. “It was harder to gauge where we’re at. This was a little bit better and a little more evenly contested match.”
Schaezlein was happy with the chances his team generated from the top of the box, but the Grizzlies had a hard time converting those chances against goalie Maddie Malone.
Verkuilen said he has a relatively young team after some of last year’s starters decided not to come out for soccer.
“I was just excited to be out and I think as the game progressed, we progressed and that was great,” he said. “I was proud of the young players that stepped in.”
Although Grace had more shots on net, the Kardinals did have two great chances on free kicks by Kylie Verkuilen. Then, in the last minutes of the game, Grace goalie Mia Rossi came off her line to stop a chance by Sarah Baisden.
“In the last 10 or 15 minutes, it seemed like we had pretty good pressure going and it just seemed a matter of time before something went in,” Verkuilen said. “That goalie made a beautiful save down there.”
Verkuilen said Kenai has some veterans on defense. He added those players did a good job of limiting the damage done by all the Grace players with strong shots.
The coach said freshman Kate Wisnewski did a great job on top of the defensive diamond, while Kylie Verkuilen tracked the ball all over the field and Chloe Goldsby had some nice runs up the sideline early.
Grace boys 3, Kenai 0
The Grizzlies scored twice in the first half and once in the second to secure the nonconference victory.
Lopez said the opportunity to get early game play is invaluable because his team is so young. The Kardinals only have three seniors and started four freshmen Friday.
“It’s been quite a few years since we had that many freshmen starting,” Lopez said.
Lopez said his young team grew into the game.
“This gives the young guys a chance to learn and grow,” he said. “I said at the outset the goal here is to get better, and I thought the guys did that throughout the game.”
Lopez said freshman Sawyer Vann had a string of solid saves throughout the game. The coach said senior Joe Hamilton led the team on defense, while freshman Cole Langham was impressive in his debut at defensive midfield.
“That’s such a tough role as a young player,” Lopez said. “He made good stops and intelligent passes.”
The Kenai and Grace girls play at noon today, while the boys play at 2 p.m.
