FEAR THE FOURTH

PALMER — Northern Lights Conference teams may have to learn to fear the fourth seed, especially if that No. 4 seed is the Palmer Moose.

Palmer scored a 2-1 (4-2 in a shootout) win over top-seeded Homer during the NLC quarterfinals Thursday, marking the second straight season the Moose have entered the tourney as the No. 4 seed and upset the South Division’s top team in the first round.

“It doesn’t matter what happened in the past, it doesn’t matter the scoring in the past, everybody starts fresh,” Palmer head coach Kevin Dearborn said after the win. “It’s a clean slate. It’s whoever’s more hungry, whoever works the hardest for it.”

Junior Steven Lee scored during regulation and also found the back of the net during the tiebreaker to seal the game for the Moose, and freshman goalkeeper Chandler Jones allowed only one goal through regulation and a pair of 10-minute overtimes to help Palmer move into the semifinals to face Grace Christian today at 1 p.m. at Colony High.

Aube Strickland, Jacob Spannagle, Daniel Burton and Lee all found the back of the net during the final tiebreaker to help the Moose advance to the semifinals.

Grant Arseneau, Homer’s sophomore goalkeeper and first shooter of the tiebreaker, tucked a high shot under the crossbar to give the Mariners the first edge in the shootout. But Strickland immediately answered for the Moose by placing a shot into the low left corner of the net.

After Homer’s Carson Duggar pushed a shot wide, Palmer’s third shooter, Jacob Spannagle, gave the Moose the edge by finding the right side of the net.

Homer would miss another shot in the shootout, lifting a ball high above the goal. Burton followed by placing his attempt high in the net. That gave the Moose the 4-2 advantage with shootout goals. Homer’s Robin Glosser’s found the low left corner of the net to help the Mariner’s cut the deficit. But Lee sealed it with a shot into the high left corner of the net.

“(I) just let it go,” Lee said. “Took a deep breath and let it go.”

Meanwhile, Jones — making his first career postseason tournament start — stood in net for the shootout victory.

“I just tried to relax and do my thing,” Jones said. “It’s all mental. It’s all in your head.”

Lee gave Palmer the first lead, knocking a header off a Brandon Campbell corner kick, during the 30th minute.

“Steven, I didn’t know who he was before this year,” Dearborn said. “He came out and every game, he’s improving more and more.”

Early in the second half, the Mariners got a spark off the bench.

Moments after junior Burl Tonga replaced an injured Glosser, Tonga raced up the left side of the field and put a hard strike into the back of the Palmer net.

But Palmer faced the adversity of the tying goal and forced overtime.

“We played hard, played together and played tough,” Lee said. “It was a tough game.”

Grace boys 3,

Nikiski 1

PALMER — Grace Christian, the top seed from the NLC North, scored a 3-1 win during first-round action. Grace plays Palmer today.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/matsu_sports.