It\u2019s that time of year when high school seniors play in their final games. As senior nights are celebrated this week on the soccer grass, the track field, and baseball and softball diamonds, the Empire is highlighting the soon-to-be graduates at Thunder Mountain and Juneau-Douglas High Schools. Today, the series is kicked off with short stories about each of the four soccer senior classes.<\/p>\n
DEDICATED COACHES<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Like their boys counterpart, the bonds between senior teammates on the JDHS girls soccer team are strong. The team\u2019s senior night on Tuesday was one of the last times the seniors will be able to play for their coaches Matt Dusenberry, Joann Quigg and Phil Subeldia.<\/p>\n Zoey Kriegmont said the commitment level from their coaching staff has made a difference in her high school career.<\/p>\n \u201cThe best part about the JD coaching staff is that they all care so immensely for each and every one of the players,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Senior Ally Lindley says playing for Dusenberry both in the club and high school setting has been a great treasure.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s really nice having the same coach year-round,\u201d Lindley said. \u201cI have advanced so much as a player because of him. He keeps it serious on the field but everyone always has so much fun.\u201d<\/p>\n Georgia Robinson enjoys the relationships she\u2019s built with the different coaches.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve always appreciated that over the four years I\u2019ve had a genuine relationship with all three coaches and that they really care about every player individually,\u201d Robinson said. \u201cBut my favorite thing about playing for Matt, Jo and Phil is that they always make it a good time, always joking around and not taking things too seriously (most of the time.)\u201d<\/p>\n JDHS Girls Soccer Seniors<\/strong><\/p>\n Georgia Robinson, 18<\/p>\n 4th year player<\/p>\n Ally Lindley, 18<\/p>\n 4th year player<\/p>\n Erika Holst, 18<\/p>\n 4th year player<\/p>\n Jessica Gregg<\/p>\n 1st year player<\/p>\n Zoey Kriegmont, 18<\/p>\n 3rd year player<\/p>\n Jade McCormick, 17<\/p>\n 3rd year player<\/p>\n Bethany Bibb, 18<\/p>\n 4th year player<\/p>\n Elissa Koyuk, 17<\/p>\n 1st year player<\/p>\n \u2018A WELCOMING ENVIRONMENT\u2019<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Thunder Mountain High School girls soccer team is celebrating their eight seniors Saturday before their final game of the season against Ketchikan. The seniors said the openness to welcoming new players to the team is one of the great qualities of the program.<\/p>\n Senior captain Anne Coogan surprised her friends when she went out for soccer freshman year with limited prior playing experience.<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone was like, \u2018You\u2019re joining soccer? You\u2019re a cheerleader though.\u2019 And I was like, \u2018Yeah, but I want to try something new,\u2019\u201d Coogan said. \u201cI\u2019m really happy I decided to do it. It\u2019s something totally different than cheer.\u201d<\/p>\n Coogan said the coaches Kris Coffee and John Newell make sure everyone is having a good time on the team.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery season it\u2019s a new group of kids and everyone\u2019s so accepting compared to a lot of other teams,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Coogan\u2019s fellow senior Elena Bryson echoed that sentiment about the team.<\/p>\n \u201cI will miss our awesome team chemistry. We all get along well on and off the field, which created a welcoming environment,\u201d Bryson said.<\/p>\n Senior Xan Dindinger, a team manager this season, joined the team as a freshman with her friends. Even though she and her friends were beginners their first year playing, they stuck it out as they found a team that was \u201cloving and encouraging.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI wouldn\u2019t want to be a part of any other team,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n TMHS Girls Soccer Seniors<\/strong><\/p>\n Allyson Strong, 18<\/p>\n 4th year player<\/p>\n Elena Bryson, 18<\/p>\n 4th year player<\/p>\n Kaden Reddekopp, 17<\/p>\n 2nd year player<\/p>\n Xan Dindinger, 17<\/p>\n 3rd year player\/manager<\/p>\n Laura Walsh, 17<\/p>\n 3rd year player<\/p>\n Augustina (Tina) Sanchez<\/p>\n 1st year player<\/p>\n Kyong Rim Yi<\/p>\n 4th year player<\/p>\n Anne Coogan, 18<\/p>\n 4th year player<\/p>\n THE JESTERS<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n If you attended any home Juneau-Douglas High School boys soccer game this season, and you probably heard them. Camped along the sideline in camping chairs or seated on the grass, the JDHS boys soccer team yelling, \u201cOhhhh!!\u201d any time a player slips the ball through a defender\u2019s legs (known as a \u201cnutmeg\u201d in soccer lingo).<\/p>\n JDHS boys soccer coach Gary Lehnhart can pinpoint where these antics originate: his senior class.<\/p>\n \u201cThey don\u2019t have a seriousness – that\u2019s not who they are,\u201d Lehnhart said. \u201cThey have a commitment, there\u2019s no question. They\u2019re committed to (the team). But they\u2019re not that come to practice with that look on their face and, \u2018Let\u2019s get focused,\u2019 they\u2019re really a much more carefree group.\u201d<\/p>\n The JDHS boys soccer seniors were honored on Wednesday night before their final regular season game against Thunder Mountain High School.<\/p>\n Many of the seniors including Ben Undurraga, JJ Mosher, Michael White, Sherrod Miller and Salar Peirovi have played on the same teams their entire childhoods.<\/p>\n When the Empire asked each of the seniors what they will miss about playing for the Crimson Bears, they all said a different version of the same thing.<\/p>\n \u201cPlaying with all my soccer club friends that have been with me since the beginning,\u201d Miller said.<\/p>\n Undurraga said of playing with lifelong friends: \u201cIt doesn\u2019t get much better than that,\u201d and White said, \u201cI will miss being with the boys and competing with them.\u201d<\/p>\n The seniors head with the rest of the team to the state tournament for their last games with the Crimson Bears.<\/p>\n JDHS boys soccer seniors<\/strong><\/p>\n Jaime Moreno<\/p>\n Adam Spiech<\/p>\n Chris Isaak<\/p>\n Marshall Shapland-Murray<\/p>\n Michael White<\/p>\n JJ Mosher<\/p>\n Sherrod Miller<\/p>\n Ben Carter<\/p>\n Ben Undurraga<\/p>\n Cahal Morehouse<\/p>\n Nick Heidersdorf<\/p>\n AN INTERNATIONAL SENIOR CLASS<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n The Thunder Mountain High School boys soccer team is graduating 11 players from its program this year. Three can say they played all four years with the team: Mahina Toutaiolepo, Harlem King and Kaiden Ward.<\/p>\n TMHS coach Josh Odum said, \u201cOur boys have never had issues bringing new faces to the crowd.\u201d<\/p>\n The team featured three foreign exchange students this year: Franco Vidal from Chile, Mahmoud Aisha from Palestine and Elias Schrodt from Germany. The Falcons are in Ketchikan this weekend for their final games of the season.<\/p>\n TMHS boys soccer<\/strong><\/p>\n seniors<\/strong><\/p>\n Bryan Bolanos<\/p>\n Chase Saviers<\/p>\n Kaiden Ward<\/p>\n Mahina Toutaiolepo<\/p>\n Franco Vidal<\/p>\n Harlem King<\/p>\n Martin Lopez<\/p>\n Sam Nolan<\/p>\n Elias Schrodt<\/p>\n Mahmoud Abu Aisha<\/p>\n Anthony Williams<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It\u2019s that time of year when high school seniors play in their final games. As senior nights are celebrated this week on the soccer grass, the track field, and baseball and softball diamonds, the Empire is highlighting the soon-to-be graduates at Thunder Mountain and Juneau-Douglas High Schools. Today, the series is kicked off with short […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":425,"featured_media":33516,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":6,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-33515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33515","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/425"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33515"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33515\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33515"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=33515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}