Palmer girls open soccer season with win

PALMER — Last season, the Palmer Moose girls soccer team accomplished something for the first time in more than a decade. Palmer not only advanced to the state tournament for the first time since 2007, but the Moose earned a state tourney victory, a 6-2 win over North Pole.

Tuesday, Palmer opened its 2019 season with a 6-2 win over Redington.

“I feel good,” Palmer head coach Harmony Chadwick said about her team’s opening day.

Chadwick said Palmer’s success in 2019 certainly created additional enthusiasm and excitement as the Moose prepared to run into the 2019 campaign.

“We ended with 46 girls,” Chadwick said. “It was such a positive group, such a positive year, people just wanted to play.”

Chadwick said her players from the squad last season spent time recruiting new athletes, aiming to build on the success. What impressed her, Chadwick said, is her players were trying to add to the team rather than focus on creating competition at their position.

Delaney Shults notched the hat trick to lead the Moose to the win. Catherine Uschmann, Ilse Spiropolous and Cearsten Dosser also scored. Dosser, a freshman, posted her first career goal.

Brooke Harmon and Jessica Morganflash scored for Redington.

Chadwick said, overall, she was pleased with the way Palmer played. Her concern, she said, was on the defensive end of the field. The Moose lost key players to graduation last year, a group that included Kiley Fish. Chadwick said players promoted from the junior varsity stepped up. A newcomer to the program, junior Rachel Cooper, also emerged.

“I think we handled it well. They did what we asked them,” Chadwick said.

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