Palmer girls battle for win, tie

PALMER — After playing a close 40 minutes with the Houston Hawks, it only took about 90 seconds for the Palmer Moose to take control in the second half.

Palmer scored a pair of early second-half goals and went on to post a 7-1 win over the Hawks at Machetanz Field in Palmer on Tuesday.

“It was pretty quick,” Palmer head coach Harmony Chadwick said of the early second-half strikes.

The Moose led 2-0 at the break, but quickly doubled that lead in the first two minutes of the second half with goals by sophomores Elliot Perkins and Kendall Howe.

“We were moving the ball around. That was our whole goal, move the ball around and spread the defense,” Chadwick said.

During the opening moments of the second half, Palmer senior Tress Whitfield drove down the right side of the field and put a shot on goal. The initial save was made, but the ball was knocked loose in front of the Houston goal. Perkins crashed the net and scored.

Seconds later, Howe came up the right side and knocked a sharp shot through the hands of the Houston keeper.

First-year Houston head coach Huey Farrell said the early second-half scores were a certain obstacle for his young Hawks team.

“I really think we got a little bit of adversity right out of the gates in the second half. We’re a young team, quite a few freshmen and sophomores,” Farrell said, while crediting the Moose for their work in the win.

Houston got on the scoreboard in the second half with Tiffany Meyer’s first goal of the season. The senior was able to knock a shot into the Palmer net and cut the Moose lead to 4-1.

Palmer added three more goals in the second half.

Senior Erin Cost led the Moose with a pair of goals in the game. Junior Gerianne Krueger, senior Sierra Myers and junior Lily Cullers also scored for Palmer.

“It was a very wide range (of goal-scorers),” Chadwick said. “We did a really good job offensively with our whole team.”

On Wednesday, Palmer played to a scoreless tie with rival Colony at The Dome in Anchorage.

Despite the tie, Chadwick was pleased with her team’s play during the match.

“I’m very happy,” Chadwick said. “We were great on offense and defense. We had lots of good opportunities.”

Chadwick said the Moose outshot the Knights. Palmer senior goalkeeper Morgan Morfe saved about 10 Colony shots, the Palmer head coach said. Chadwick also praised the work of Colony goalkeeper Jaden Chew.

“We worked (the ball) down the line a lot, but we couldn’t finish on Jaden,” Chadwick said. “She made some good stops, on (shots) that a lot of keepers would let go in.”

Palmer, Colony and Houston are all in action this weekend. Palmer hosts Skyview today at 4 p.m. and Homer Saturday at 10 a.m. Colony hosts Homer at 4 p.m. today and Skyview Saturday at noon. The Hawks host Nikiski today at 4 p.m. and play at Wasilla Saturday at 10 a.m.

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