Matches dumped after snowfall

PALMER — Local soccer coaches spent last week praising the soccer gods. Now, they’re cursing Mother Nature.

After enjoying the earliest start to the outdoor prep soccer season in the Valley, maybe ever, local teams have been chased back inside by recent heavy snowfall.

“It’s terribly frustrating. We were outside,” Colony boys head coach Jeremy Johnson said.

Colony hosted games on back-to-back nights last week, playing Wasilla and West Valley on the school’s new turf field. Before turf came to the Valley, local programs would typically wait until late April, or even early May, to see their first action on their home fields.

The Colony girls also enjoyed the early starting, playing Wasilla last week. The Palmer teams played South Anchorage on Friday on the Colony turf.

Coaches and players were looking forward to a full slate of games this week, but everything on the schedule has been cancelled.

“We can’t compete with Mother Nature,” Palmer boys head coach Kevin Dearborn said. “But we’re all in the same boat.”

The cancellations started as the snow arrived last Saturday. The Colony boys were set to host Service, and Wasilla had a boys-girls doubleheader with South scheduled for the same day at CHS. Johnson said his phone started ringing at 6:30 a.m. that morning.

Continued heavy snowfall throughout the weekend and Monday led to a pile of game cancellations. Colony was slated to host the South boys and girls today. North Pole and Lathrop were scheduled to travel to the Valley late this week to play Colony, Palmer and Wasilla.

Johnson said the South games were called off, and he has no idea if they can be rescheduled.

“We’re hoping, but it’s hard,” Johnson said. “Their schedule is going to be pretty condensed soon too.”

Palmer High activities director Jeff Thiede said Valley matches against North Pole and Lathrop have officially been cancelled. Thiede said each of the schools’ activities directors agreed cancelling the games is the only move.

“We decided there’s no way, especially with the forecast for this week,” Thiede said. “Having the Fairbanks teams down to play is unrealistic at this point.”

Palmer High also has a new artificial turf field, but even before the recent dumping of snow, Thiede said the PHS turf was still not quite ready for the school to host games.

“I think we probably were about a week out,” Thiede said of the timetable before the snowfall. “But with all this snow, who knows now.”

Palmer has home games against Wasilla and Seward next week, but the Moose are playing the waiting game now.

Meanwhile, the Valley’s teams are reverting back to what they’ve done in April in past seasons.

“Go back inside. That’s all we can do,” Johnson said.