Susitna Valley High School won their first soccer game of the season Tuesday night against Wasilla High School. Wasilla isn’t usually on the Ram’s soccer schedule, but, due to COVID-19, this year’s season looks a little different.
Su-Valley is the reigning high school state champion for co-ed soccer. The team usually spends its fall season traveling to places like Nenana, Delta Junction and Soldotna – other schools that are too small to support both a boys and a girls soccer team.
But this fall, the Mat-Su Borough has prohibited Brough sports teams from traveling outside the Borough for games. Since there is only one other high school in the Borough with a co-ed soccer team, questions were raised about the possibilities of having a competitive season.
According to Su-Valley Athletic Director, Jimmy Sickler, when Palmer learned about the dilemma, they responded with a solution. Usually, Palmer, Colony and Wasilla High Schools, yield both a boys soccer team and a girls team, and their season takes place in the spring. But last year, those schools saw their seasons cancelled due to the coronavirus.
At the beginning of the school year, the lower valley schools each pulled together a co-ed team, giving Su-Valley and Our Lady of the Valley High School in Wasilla, some unexpected and welcome competition.
For their first home game, about fifty socially distanced spectators, clad in masks, cheered for the students from the sidelines. Tuesday’s win against Wasilla leaves Su-Valley 1-1 thus far, for the season. Their next home game is Monday, September 14th, against Colony High School.
