Prep soccer: Teams ready for regions

May 22, 2007

By Jeremiah Bartz/ Frontiersman

WASILLA - If teams in the Northern Lights Conference learned anything during the regular season, the lesson was anyone could be representing the NLC in the state tournament.

Sixteen teams will take the field on Friday during the first day of the 2007 Northern Lights Conference Tournament, but only six programs will remain standing once the two-day event ends on Saturday at Wasilla High School.

The tourney begins Friday at 9 a.m. at both Wasilla High School and Bumpus Fields, and the event ends Saturday with the title game of the boys bracket at 4 p.m. at WHS.

Parody has certainly been a constant theme during the course of the 2007 regular season, especially on the girls' side.

&#8220It's an extremely tight region,” Wasilla head coach Katie Broeder said after a 2-0 loss against Colony last week.

The aforementioned contest allowed the Knights to move into second place in the North Division of the NLC, and push Wasilla down to No. 3.

With no clear favorite, the parody has given teams confidence.

&#8220We can take on anybody, we just need to bring our ‘A' game,” Colony head coach Lorie Miner said last week.

With a 3-0-1 record in division play, Palmer earned the top seed from the North and will face Skyview in the quarterfinals today at 1 p.m. at WHS Friday.

Second-seeded Colony (3-1-0) faces Homer (3-2-0 in South Division play) at 9 a.m. Friday at Bumpus.

Palmer's 1-0 win over Colony last week assured the Moose of a top seed.

Fourth-seeded Wasilla (1-2-1) meets the top team from the South, Kenai (4-0-1) at 9 a.m. Friday at WHS.

In the other quarterfinal, Soldotna (South No. 2) meets Grace (North No. 3) at 1 p.m. Friday at Bumpus.

Miner said she expects Kenai and Soldotna to be tough in the South Division.

With an undefeated mark heading into its final contest of the season last Saturday, Wasilla looked pretty much unbeatable in the NLC. But Colony's 3-0 win over the Warriors in the season-finale proved otherwise.

With the win, Colony (3-0-1) scored the top spot from the North, and will meet Seward (2-3-0) Friday at 11 a.m. at Bumpus.

Wasilla (3-1-0) gets Skyview (2-3-0) in the quarterfinals, hosting the Panthers Friday at 3 p.m. at WHS.

Fourth-seeded Palmer (1-3-0) meets Soldotna (5-0-0) at 3 p.m. Friday at Bumpus.

Colony head coach Jeremy Johnson said there will be at least two very tough opponents hailing from the South.

&#8220Soldotna is definitely the class (of that division), and Kenai's good as well,” Johnson said.

The unique two-day format of the NLC tourney requires winners of the quarterfinal round to play two matches in one day. The semifinals are also contested on the first day of the event.

The tourney features semifinal games at both WHS and Bumpus at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m on Friday.

Winners of the semifinals will advance to the title games, scheduled for 2 p.m. for the girls and 4 p.m. for the boys.

Losers of the semifinals will face in the third-place game, with the winner of that contest earning the conference's final bid to the state tourney.

The third-place games are slated for 10 a.m. (girls) and noon (boys).

Each of the third-place and championship games are at WHS.

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