The Eagle River High School girl's soccer team suffered a little insult and a big injury during their first game on their home turf, losing 4-1 to Dimond April 23.
After trailing 3-0 in the first half, coach Larry Fussner said the team took what might be its biggest loss in the second half, losing sophomore goalkeeper Emily Davis, who sustained a broken nose while trying to stop a breakaway from a Dimond forward.
Not only did the Lynx player score, the follow-through swing of her foot caught Davis square in the face.
Fussner said that from his vantage point far across the field, the contact might have been unclear to onlookers but that the impact was immediately felt as the player crumpled to the turf.
“She bled for quite a while. She really christened the new field,” said Fussner.
Junior Courtney Spitler, coming off a nice crossing pass from Lorianne Mordini on the left side, the coach added, provided the team's lone goal.
The coach said he received a great effort in goal from junior Myka Hiura, normally a forward for the team, preventing any additional scoring from Dimond in the second half.
Fussner noted that the movement of Hiura into the net weakened the team's offensive presence. He did not state whether Hiura would remain in the goalie position for the rest of the season.
The coach said Davis would be out for at least one week, waiting for the swelling to go down before the broken nose could be reset. The injury could remove the keeper from games for three weeks, effectively ending the sophomore's season.
With this week's early games likely to be postponed because of snow, Fussner said it is becoming a logistical nightmare just trying to reschedule the games.
“We already have five games next week (Monday to May 10). We don't have anywhere to put in the (rescheduled) games,” he said.
Yet with 50-degree weather forecasted by midweek, the second-year head coach said things might work out all right.
One concern Fussner has is the fact that his senior-laden team does have several games, including the post-season slated for post-graduation dates.
With graduation on May 13, the team has their last league-game May 14 against Chugiak High, and then the Cook Inlet Conference tournament slated from May 22 to May 24.
The team has seven seniors who will have been out of school for more than a week before the tournament. Two seniors, namely foreign exchange students Louisa Montendorf and Tanya Strassberger, will be out of country, returning home prior to the tournament, he said.
Other seniors include Crystal Dye, Tae Freeman, Kelsey Platt, Samantha Thomas and Janice Tolbert.
The team plays East, Saturday, 9 a.m. at Eagle River; Bartlett, Monday, 3 p.m. at Anchorage Football Stadium; Service, Tuesday, 7 p.m. at Dimond; West, Wednesday, 5 p.m. at Eagle River; and Dimond, May 9, 5 p.m. at AFS.
Reach the reporter at news@alaskastar.com.
