Shutout shutdown

PALMER — Prior to their match against Juneau-Douglas on Thursday afternoon, the Palmer Moose had gone more than 320 minutes without allowing a goal.

Palmer came close to stretching its shutout streak to five matches, but Juneau junior Ashley Soto scored in the 61st minute to lead the Crimson Bears to a 1-0 nonconference win over the Moose at Machetanz Field.

Despite the loss, Palmer head coach Brian Fish was excited about the defensive play of his team.

“I think that says a lot about our defense,” Fish said of his team’s work during the streak. “We hadn’t given up a lot of shots in that time. Even today, I don’t know if we gave up even a half-dozen shots on net to keep one of the better teams in the state at bay a little.”

After a season-opening 3-1 loss to Wasilla, Palmer blanked Skyview, Homer, Nikiski and Houston in consecutive matches. Juneau, a team that has placed among the top three teams at the state tournament in each of the last four seasons, had to wait until 21 minutes into the second half to secure its first and only score of the game.

The Palmer defense limited the Bears, and junior goalkeeper Chealse Riley was able to stop most of what Juneau threw at her.

“She made some very good saves,” Fish said of Riley. “She made the saves she was supposed to make.”

Soto followed a Crimson Bears corner kick with a sharp shot from the left side into the far end of the net to account for Juneau’s score.

“It was a beautiful shot really,” Fish said. “Chealse got her fingertips on it, but we didn’t recover quick enough and mark up where we should have been marking up on defense. And they took advantage of it.”

Jueanu-Douglas had a similar effect on Palmer’s offense.

“They held us pretty good as far as opportunities,” Fish said. “I thin we may have only had two or three good opportunities on net.”

Palmer did have a few solid attempts which traveled just beyond the goal.

During the 20th minute, junior Shea Riggs pushed a shot high over the net following a corner kick. In the 73rd minute, senior Raelynn Quintavel’s shot from the midfield went just right of the right post.

Win or lose, there’s a reason why Fish likes to see a nonconference opponent like Juneau-Douglas on his team’s schedule.

“It’s always nice to play Juneau, because you know you’re playing a good quality opponent every year,” Fish said of the Crimson Bears, an annual visitor to Machetanz Field.

This year, Fish hopes the experience gained from playing a top team will help as the Moose prepare for the meat of their Northern Lights Conference schedule.

“We’ve got kind of a grueling stretch here,” Fish said. “It started with Juneau here, then it’s Colony, Wasilla, Soldotna and Kenai. That’s the top four teams in our region right there.”

That stretch starts today when Palmer makes the short trip to Colony to face the Knights at 4 p.m.

Palmer 11, Houston 0

PALMER — Palmer scored an 11-0 NLC win over Houston on Tuesday at Machetanz Field.

Junior Shawna Thein led the Moose with three goals. Tess Anderson, Krysya Theisen, Katrina Pilch, Raelynn Quintavell, Kendal Venzke, Chealse Riley, Rebecca Kloster and Korina Rissew also scored for PHS.

Junior Lanycha Zimmer posted the shutout in the Palmer goal.

Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.