Fatigued Moose fall to Knights

PALMER — Talk about a tall order for the Palmer Moose.

On Thursday, Palmer came within reach of knocking off the defending state champion Juneau-Douglas Crimson Bears. And less than 24 hours later, the Moose were back on the pitch, this time against Colony, a perennial power in the Northern Lights Conference.

Somewhere during the back-to-back brutal bouts, the Moose simply ran out of steam.

Sophomore James Meaney and senior Bridger Van Ness scored a pair of first-half goals to lead Colony to a 2-0 win over the fatigued Moose at Colony High School on Friday.

“They played a really tough match last night in the hot sun, so I’m sure that could have been a factor for them,” Colony head coach Jeremy Johnson said after the win. “I sure know our boys would have been tired if they had to play a full match with Juneau last night.”

Kevin Dearborn admitted his players could have been a bit fatigued during the match against Colony.

“I thought we were more mentally tired than physically tired,” Dearborn said. “No excuses though. Colony is great. They’re a great ball team.”

Meaney scored during the 12th minute to give Colony the early lead and Van Ness added to the Knights’ total in the 37th.

With about three minutes left in the first half, junior Oliver Querin sent a long shot from midfield toward the Palmer net. Palmer freshman goalkeeper Brandon Wolsterman made the initial save, but the ball popped loose and Van Ness crashed the net to make the play.

“I remembered the coach telling me, follow all the shots,” Van Ness said. “Fortunately the goalie couldn’t handle it and I got the rebound.”

Junior Elliott Gilbert and senior Collin Murphy combined for the shutout. Gilbert, who is also active in the Colony drama program, had a Friday night performance. To fill the void in goal, Johnson moved one of his top defensive players back into the net.

“We pulled him off the field and he did a great job,” Johnson said of Murphy. “Being able to control our defensive third really helped us out. He was really only forced to make one or two saves.”

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