Homer’s Laura Inama netted the lone goal in Thursday night’s varsity girls soccer game between Homer and Kenai Central High School, propelling the Lady Mariners to the first in the Peninsula Conference.
Scored late in the first half on an assist from Eve Brau, Inama’s goal brought Homer to 4-0-2 in the conference so far this season. The loss dropped Kenai to 4-1-2. The Kardinals have no more games against fellow conference teams scheduled for this season.
Homer has one last conference match-up to go against Soldotna on May 11.
“It’s very nice to be able to come out of here with a win today,” said Homer head coach Mike Tozzo. “It was big for conference standings, for region standings, and ultimately (for) state seeding. … Our goal today was to be the aggressor and be first to the … ball, and we did a good job of doing that.”
Kenai coach Dan Verkuilen noted that his team entered the game with several injuries and some illness affecting players.
“We knew it was going to be tough,” he said. “We had a bunch of ailing kids and kids that were hurt. And we were hoping that we could generate a little more energy, but I think that Homer came out in that first half with a little more energy than we did.”
Verkuilen said the Kardinals had their moments and chances in the second half, but just weren’t able to pull off the necessary shot.
While the Mariners didn’t necessarily have a strong passing game Thursday, Tozzo said their large accomplishment was keeping Kenai’s momentum to a minimum.
“We kept our shape as a team on the field, from the front line to the back line,” he said. “We didn’t allow them (Kenai) to do anything. We didn’t allow Kenai to like, get their touches and turn and shoot. They’ve got really good shooters on that team. That’s a really good team and a really well coached team.”
The Mariner boys team faced Kenai, also on Thursday, in an away game.
Game two of the regular season series between Kenai Central and Homer was headed toward another tie when fate delivered the host Kardinals a last-second opportunity.
Kenai senior striker Tomas Levy-Canedo scored in the last minute of regulation play at Kenai Central High School to send the Kards to a 1-0 win over the Mariners in Peninsula Conference action.
It allowed the Kardinals to clinch the top seed in the upcoming conference tournament, an accomplishment that head coach Shane Lopez said affords Kenai a lot of breathing room in their efforts to snag a fifth straight state appearance.
“That’s always big,” Lopez said. “It’s always nice to be the one seed going into the tournament. You get the winner of the four and five, and those guys have a game the day before. It’s nice not having to battle SoHi and Homer that first day.”
Kenai finished its regular season with a 6-0-1 conference mark, and only have Southeast school Thunder Mountain left to play Saturday at home.
Meanwhile, Homer dropped to 3-2-1 in conference with Thunder Mountain and Soldotna left to play. The Saturday match with SoHi could decide the No. 2 and 3 seeds for the tournament.
Levy-Canedo received a through ball from a teammate — he credited midfielder Damien Redder — and raced to the goal box with a Homer defender before flicking the ball by Mariners goalkeeper Clayton Beachy to finally break the deadlock.
“This is our last chance,” Levy-Canedo said about his thought process. “Just give it a kick and hope it goes in.”
Mariners head coach Warren Waldorf said the loss doesn’t do Homer any favors in terms of tournament seeding, but he envisioned a semifinal matchup with Soldotna for a second straight year anyway.
“It doesn’t really matter now if we go two or three, because we’ll be playing SoHi,” Waldorf said. “We’ll do the same game we did last year with SoHi, where it went to PKs. (Kenai) basically punched their ticket to state today.”
Kenai and Homer played to a 1-all tie April 16 in Homer, and after 79 minutes of tight action Thursday in Kenai, nothing more had been done to decide which team was better. Between the two highly competitive squads, nearly 2 hours, 40 minutes, of game time had resulted in deadlock.
“The game was kind of scaring us, we didn’t want to tie,” Levy-Canedo said. “It was an intense game. Zero-zero all the way through. Homer played really well, really good defense.”
Finally, in the 80th minute, the Kenai midfield sent a through ball to Levy-Canedo, who found himself with open space and a step on his Homer defender. His goal resulted in a hearty celebration from the Kenai bench as their hard efforts paid off.
“Eventually something was going to go in,” Waldorf said. “It is what it is. They got a goal. We lost.”
The Homer boys and girls varsity teams will celebrate senior night tomorrow, Friday, while hosting Thunder Mountain from the Southeast.
Reach Megan Pacer at mpacer@homernews.com. Reach Joey Klecka at jklecka@peninsulaclarion.com.
Homer’s Jessica Sonnen rushes to the ball along with Kenai’s Abigail Schneiders during a Thursday, May 9, 2019 soccer game at Homer High School in Homer, Alaska. (Photo by Megan Pacer/Homer News)
Homer’s Alyssum Veldstra sets up a pass during a Thursday, May 9, 2019 game against Kenai Central High School held at Homer High School in Homer, Alaska. (Photo by Megan Pacer/Homer News)
