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Eagle River High School sophomore Brandy Jayne works the sidelines alongside an East High opponent during Saturday's scoreless stalemate.
PHOTO BY DAN SHEPARD
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The first-year Eagle River High School girls varsity soccer team, under the direction of coach Larry Fussner, will play Service High School in the opening round of the Cook Inlet Conference soccer tournament beginning today.
The Wolves will be looking to even the score with the Cougars, who tied Eagle River in the season's first game, then beat the Wolves 2-0 two weeks later.
Fussner said his team has a good chance to contend with Service. “It's doable, very doable,” he asserted Monday.
The coach thought his squad might have faced Dimond High School in the first-round in the match-up between the regular-season's third and sixth seeds. However, a 2-1 win by Service over Dimond yielded the swing favoring the Cougars.
Fussner was pleased with the turnaround, seeing that Eagle River lost to Dimond by scores of 8-0 and 4-0.
The coach said the team will have to face the Cougars without sophomore Brandy Jayne, who will be traveling to Fairbanks for the state track championships. She qualified in at least two events, including the state's best time in the 100-meter hurdles.
Fortunately, the team will have the two or three other dual-sport participants for the first-round soccer tournament.
“It's going to be relatively calm for us — we'll only have one (varsity) player missing the tournament,” said Fussner, aware of other teams losing senior members following graduation.
The coach said his team is healthy and should be ready to compete against Service.
The losers of the four first-round games are eliminated, leaving the four remaining teams to battle for three positions to the state meet.
Reach the reporter at news@alaskastar.com.
