Late Moose goal forces tie

PALMER — The 2013 season has already been tough on the Palmer Moose for a few reasons.

Like basically everyone outside of the Anchorage area, opportunities to play in official matches have been scarce. Palmer had two games under its belt heading into play Saturday, but those matches were against a pair of 2012 state tournament teams and resulted in 4-0 losses to the perennially tough South Anchorage Wolverines and the defending Northern Lights Conference champion Wasilla Warriors.

So not only were the Moose looking for their first win of the season, they were also looking for their first goal Saturday. Palmer may not have captured the victory, but the Moose did finally find that elusive first score.

Junior Phillip Palm converted a penalty kick during the final minutes of regulation to force a 1-1 tie with Kenai Central at Colony High School Saturday evening.

“That’s a big load off,” Palm said of Palmer getting the first goal of the season. “We’ve been working our butts off, on and off the field. We really wanted it.”

Kenai was called for a handball violation inside the penalty box late in the game. That gave Palm the opportunity to give Palmer its first score of the year.

“I was trying to clear my mind. I didn’t want to put any pressure,” Palm said of his thoughts as he approached the shot. “(I wanted to) put it low in the corner, high in the corner; put it where the keeper can’t get it at all.”

Palm tucked his shot low, into the far right side of the net.

Palmer head coach Kevin Dearborn said it was nice to see his team finally break through and notch that first goal of the season.

“This is kind of the monkey off our back. Now we’re done with that. Let’s move forward and try to get more opportunities in the future,” Dearborn said.

Part of it is simply trying to fill the void left by the big hit to graduation last year.

“With me having 10 new starters, we’re rotating those different positions, trying to figure out who can score a goal,” Dearborn said. “This is our third game and we’ve been really having trouble scoring.”

Palmer did have a number of quality chances against the Kardinals. Dearborn said he thought the Moose could have won the match, but was happy to have the tie and something his team can build on.

“It was good for us because we dominated most of the game, and we gave up that early goal,” Dearborn said. “But we got rewarded at the end.”

Part of Palmer’s problem was the stellar play of sophomore Wren Norwood in the Kenai net.

“Wren just developed and worked hard throughout (his freshman) year. He’s a phenomenal keeper now,” Kenai coach John Morton said.

Norwood also stood out during a 3-0 loss to Colony on Friday.

“He was the player of the game by far,” Morton said of Norwood’s work against the Knights. “He made so many beautiful saves.”

Josh McKee got inside the box and scored during the 12th minute to give the Kards the early 1-0 lead. Backstopped by Norwood, the Kards were able to hold that advantage until the final minutes.

Kenai lost its grip of the lead, with the Palm penalty kick.

“It’s frustrating,” Morton said. “It’s soccer. It happens.”

Overall, Morton was pleased with things he saw during his team’s two-day stay in the Valley.

“We, as a team, played well. They had some opportunities, but I think we dominated the game,” Morton said of Kenai’s match against the Moose. “We played much better than yesterday. This was only our second game, and yesterday was only our second time playing on a real field.”

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.