Prep girls finally get outdoors to prepare for soccer season

With spring just beginning to show signs of warmer temperatures and melting snow, high school girls' soccer teams began making their way out of the gyms and onto the fields for final preparations before the start of soccer season.

Due to the snowfall three weeks ago in the area, Valley students have been unable to get onto the fields for practices until last week.

The Colony Knights are retooled after winning the Region III title last year. According to coach Lorie Miner, the Knights lost five seniors to graduation, but return five starting seniors to this year's squad and have strong freshmen coming in to fill the void.

"We have a strong lineup all around," Miner said. "It's hard to pick the starting 11 because we have such good depth on the team."

In addition to a strong mid-field, front line and defense, Colony returns starting goaltender Julie Coston in the net.

Miner works together with assistant coach Ed Powell to prepare the team for the season. Colony traveled to Juneau for two preseason games against the Crimson Bears yesterday and today.

"The games don't count, but we use them as a teaching tool to see where we are at," Miner said Saturday. "We should have a strong team going forward -- we're excited about this season."

Palmer also graduated five seniors from last year's squad. The void will be somewhat tougher for the Moose to fill this year because some experienced players are not returning and others have been lost to injury.

Coach Brian Fish said they will have a fairly young team of primarily freshmen and sophomores this year, but returns a number of solid, experienced players to bring the rest along.

"We're looking forward to the challenge," Fish said. "We have some good talent coming out."

Palmer will have two freshmen in net this year, but Fish said they are eager to learn the position.

Region III runner-up Wasilla graduated several seniors from last year's team, leaving a lot of inexperienced players coming in to complete the roster. Wasilla coach Tony Jensen said they are returning several players who will provide strength at the mid-field position and on offense.

"We could have a good year or a bad year," Jensen said. "It depends on the energy that we put into it."

The Warriors return two goaltenders from last year's squad. Melissa Wallace, who got the majority of the work last year, is battling Lindsey Davis for the starting goaltender position.