On Tuesday night, North Pole High School's soccer teams each defeated Hutchison's team. The Patriot men's team further strengthened its grip on the Mid-Alaska Conference (MAC), and the Patriot women's team moved into a tie for first place in the MAC standings.
Arctic Women: 12 people, Hutchison: 1 person
In the first game of the season between the Patriots and Hawks in early May, snowflakes fell throughout the first half, but subsided in the second half.
The Patriots had several shots on goal early in the game, but they were countered. With just five minutes left, freshman Alyssa Pearson broke through with a goal from about 20 yards left. Sophomore captain Julia Good added another point less than a minute later when she banked the ball to the right of the goal post and into the net.
The Patriots took a 3-0 lead shortly after when Vanessa Thibedeau scored when Hutchison's keeper darted off the goalie, and Good added another point a minute later. Good sealed his hat-trick when the Hawks goalkeeper raced to the edge of the box again.
North Pole continued to gain momentum, scoring two quick goals midway through the first half to make it 7-0. Freshman Termaine Skips had a breakaway goal late in the second half to push the lead to 8-0, and Riley Kester scored on a rebound in the final minute.
Freshman Macy Wyman kicked the ball past the goalie's legs, giving North Pole the first goal of the second half and a 10-0 lead. Wyman quickly scored the next goal. Senior captain Dallas Paul further extended North Pole's lead late in the second half.
Hutcheson freshman Emerson Haley gave the Hawks their first point in conference play — the Hawks lost 15-0 to Monroe Catholic a week and a half ago — when she came out of the box. He scored a breakaway goal by going past the goalkeeper. That was her final score in North Pole's 12-1 victory.
It was the Patriots' second consecutive win, improving their season record to 2-4-2, while the Hawks fell to 0-3.
“I think games like today were really important for them as a group,” North Pole head coach Russell Walker said after the game. “Everyone played a lot of minutes and got some really valuable game time. It's always great just to build on the success we've had as a group.”
North Pole and Monroe Catholic have tied in both of their scheduled regular season games, and now have a third game scheduled for May 18th, with overtime and penalty kicks in the event of a tie after regulation. A battle was to be fought. That way, the conference title and state tournament berth won't depend on tiebreakers.
Arctic Men: 6, Hutchison: 2
In the men's game, both teams had possession of the ball early on and took a similar amount of shots, but the Patriots started to take more control midway through the first half.
Senior captain Will Good waved the ball past defenders and into the left side of the goal to put North Pole ahead. Five minutes later, Markus Lipari put the ball into the left corner of the goal. He approached from the left side and fired a shot past the goalie, giving the Patriots a 2-0 lead.
Hutchison came on as a substitute and the Hawks stayed within one point for a good portion of the game when freshman Aiden Belt caught the ball on the left side of the penalty box and scored.
Good scored again relatively early in the second half, giving the Patriots a little breathing room. However, Dylan Skaggs sent the ball in from the left side, cutting the Hawks' lead to 3-2. North Pole then scored again off a corner kick, and freshman Noah Converse comfortably put North Pole ahead with the extra point.
Good completed his hat trick by sending the ball over the outstretched arm of the goalie and suddenly took a 6-2 lead, which was the final score. North Pole improved to 6-3 overall with the win, while the Hutchison boys fell to 0-4.
Even though he knew he had to win Tuesday's game, considering both of Hutchison's teams lost to Monroe Catholic, where the Patriots had a strong record, he was careful not to overlook his MAC opponent. was.
“I think every conference game here means a lot because it's an opportunity to go to state and that's what we plan on doing,” Walker said. “The kind of expectation for this group is that we are always competing for a state title and to do that we have to go to state.”
The Patriots and Hawks will meet once again this season on May 14th. Before that, the Patriot girls and boys will next face Lathrop on Thursday, May 9th at 5:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., respectively. First, the Malemutes will face West Valley on Tuesday. The North Pole boys and girls will play at the Wolfpack on Friday.
Hutchinson's next varsity games are the Hawk women's game against Lathrop on Friday, May 10th at 7:30 p.m., and the Hawk men's game against Ben Eielson on Saturday, May 11th at noon.
“It's a really good challenge and a good perspective on what higher level competition is going to be like for us,” Walker said of the team's upcoming games against Lathrop and West Valley.
