Region soccer tourney starts Thursday

PALMER — Once Colony officially eliminated Palmer in the race for berths in the girls’ region tournament, the Northern Lights Conference North Division standings came together pretty easily.

Colony, defending NLC champion Wasilla, Grace Christian and the history-making Houston Hawks made up the division’s standings. But the same could not be said for the South. As regular-season play ended Saturday afternoon, the division standings was nothing more than a traffic jam. Soldotna, Kenai and Homer were locked in a three-way tie for first, and Kodiak and Nikiski were stuck in another tie for fourth.

After going through the tiebreakers, the NLC North teams finally know who they will see when the NLC Championships begin Thursday morning at both Colony and Palmer.

“We were down in Homer last weekend and the coaches didn’t have any clue which way it would go,” Wasilla head coach Patrick O’Neill said of the logjam at the top of the South Division.

O’Neill said he was surprised to see that the regular-season ended in a three-way tie in the south, but certainly sees a level playing field on that side of the conference.

“In my mind they’re all pretty close,” O’Neill said

O’Neill’s Warriors drew Homer in the first round, and will face the Mariners Thursday at 11 a.m. at Colony High. Wasilla is the No. 2 seed in the NLC North. Homer dropped to the No. 3 seed after the tiebreakers. The Houston Hawks became the tiebreaker. Houston beat Homer 2-0 during the regular season, but suffered losses to both the Stars and the Kards.

Colony is the No. 1 seed in the North Division’s girls’ bracket thanks to a 4-1 win over the Warriors earlier this month. Colony head coach Jeremy Johnson echoed O’Neill’s thoughts about the South

“There’s definite parity down there,” Johnson said.

Johnson said he was honestly a bit surprised Homer snuck into the top three, but said he knows the Mariners have some good players, but have struggled with depth throughout the year. Johnson’s Knights open the tournament against Kodiak, the No. 4 seed from the South, Thursday at 3 p.m. at Colony High. The Knights have not faced the Bears this season.

Wasilla and Homer share the top half of the bracket with Soldotna, the No. 1 from the South, and fourth-seeded Houston. The Stars meet the Hawks Thursday at 11 a.m. at Palmer High. Houston is in the region tournament for the first time in school history. Houston clinched with a scoreless tie against Palmer on May 11. The Hawks and Moose finished the season tied in the division standings, but Houston’s 2-0 nonconference win over the Moose early in the season was used as the tiebreaker. After the tie, Houston senior Aspen Ruth said she wasn’t sure if I would ever happen in her high school career.

“I always hoped for it,” Ruth said after the match. “It’s a good feeling to achieve it.”

Second-seeded Kenai Central of the South and third-seeded Grace Christian share the bottom side. Kenai plays Grace Thursday at 3 p.m. at Palmer High.

Colony boys get top seed

Colony’s Jeremy Johnson will lead a pair of top seeds into the region tournament. The first-year head coach of the girls’ squad also has a boys program he’s led since 1995. This year, Johnson’s Colony boys’ squad opens the tournament against Kodiak, the No. 4 seed from the South, Thursday at 5 p.m. at Colony High.

Johnson said he doesn’t particularly like any of the draws from the South — top-seeded Kenai, Homer, Soldotna or Kodiak —because each brings its own challenge.

“Kodiak it’s just the unknown that scares me,” Johnson said.

The Bears are a young program, but improved greatly from the 2015 season to the 2016 campaign. In 2015, Colony opened its region tournament against the Bears and managed to score its first goal of the game before Kodiak even touched the ball during a 9-0 win over the Bears. Last year, Kodiak advanced to the semifinals.

Wasilla and Palmer are the No. 3 and 4 seeds in the NLC North. Wasilla opens its tournament against Homer, the No. 2 seed from the South, Thursday at 1 p.m. at Palmer High. Palmer meets top-seed Kenai, the defending region champion, Thursday at 5 p.m. Also on the top seed is second-seeded Grace Christian, of the North, facing Soldotna Thursday at 1 p.m. at CHS.

Three girls teams and three boys teams receive automatic berths to the ASAA state tournament. The winners of Friday’s semifinal games earn the first berths to the state tourney. The winner of Saturday’s third-place games also advance.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.

Northern Lights Conference Championships schedule

Girls bracket

Thursday quarterfinals:

Soldotna (1) vs. Houston (4), 11 a.m. at Palmer

Wasilla (2) vs. Homer (3), 11 a.m. at Colony

Kenai (2) vs. Grace (3), 3 p.m. at Palmer

Colony (1) vs. Kodiak (4), 3 p.m. at Colony

Friday semifinals:

Soldotna/Houston winner vs. Wasilla/Homer winner, 11 a.m. at Colony

Kenai/Grace winner vs. Colony/Kodiak winner, 3 p.m. at Colony

Saturday:

Third-place game, 10 a.m. at Colony

Championship game, 2 p.m. at Colony

Boys schedule:

Thursday quarterfinals:

Grace Christian (2) vs. Soldotna (3), 1 p.m. at Colony

Kenai (1) vs. Palmer (4), 5 p.m. at Palmer

Colony (1) vs. Kodiak (4), 5 p.m. at Colony

Homer (2) vs. Wasilla (3), 1 p.m. at Palmer

Friday semifinals:

Colony/Kodiak winner vs. Homer/Wasilla winner, 1 p.m. at Colony

Grace/Soldotna winner vs. Kenai/Palmer winner, 6 p.m. at Colony

Saturday:

Third-place game, 12 p.m., at Colony

Championship game, 4 p.m. at Colony