Crimson Bears fall in soccer

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It will be a game the Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé soccer boys can look back on and be proud of their efforts, but for now it will hurt.

A 3-2 loss in extra time on Friday to the West Anchorage Eagles in the ASAA/First National Bank Soccer State Championships semifinals.

“I think, right now obviously I’m pretty upset about it,” JDHS senior Kai Ciambor said. “Because the end goal is to always win the state championship. But I think we can reflect on this game pretty positively. The team rallied. We went down 2-0 really early, and it is easy to kind of get down and feel like you are out of the game. But we stepped up, we brought it back, we took it all the way to the end which is something we should be proud of, but not the result we wished for.”

Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé freshman keeper country wise email marketing list Callen Walker and senior defender Kellen Chester (8) work for a ball against West Anchorage junior Luca Driscoll during the Crimson Bears’ 3-2 loss in extra time to the Eagles in the 2025 ASAA/First National Bank Alaska Soccer State Championship semifinals Friday at Wasilla High School. (Klas Stolpe / Juneau Empire)
Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé freshman keeper Callen Walker and senior defender Kellen Chester (8) work for a ball against West Anchorage junior Luca Driscoll during the Crimson Bears’ 3-2 loss in extra time to the Eagles in the 2025 ASAA/First National Bank Alaska Soccer State Championship semifinals Friday at Wasilla High School. (Klas Stolpe / Juneau Empire)

With the game just over a minute into action West Anchorage senior Noah Robinson struck a shot that gave the Eagles a huge burst of momentum and a 1-0 advantage.

“Definitely we wanted to win at all means,” Robinson said. “We thought we were the better team and just had to go out and prove it…The state tournament is all the hard work you put in all year round put into the last three games. There are games at the start of the year and the middle of the year that are important, but these ones at the end are the ones that really mean the most.”

Although JDHS could not find the net they had numerous chances and free kicks, and their defense continued to be one of the stronger in the tournament.

“It hurts to lose, especially this close to the state championship,” JDHS senior Reed Maier said. “And with West Valley going to the state championship and us beating them three times it feels so much closer than it did, but I feel like we all had a good game. We all played hard and it was a good way to go out overall.”