Stars sweep Moose

SOLDOTNA — Soldotna's fusion of youth and experience blended together Friday

afternoon at a sun-splashed Justin Maile Field to produce a 4-2 girls

victory over the Palmer Moose and a 3-0 boys triumph, giving the Stars

a clean sweep.

The Northern Lights Conference victory was the first of the year for

the the SoHi girls, and left them 2-0 overall. The Palmer girls

dropped to 0-5 overall.

It took nine minutes before SoHi found the back of the Palmer netting

with a flick from Stars senior Abi Tuttle. The crafty veteran struck

again at the 26th minute when she intercepted a Palmer pass at

midfield and sprinted out a defender into the goalie box to score from

about 15 yards out, giving SoHi a 2-0 lead at halftime.

"She knows how to run off the ball, when to make her runs, and she's

smart with the ball at her foot," said SoHi head coach Jimmy Love.

"All of that helps, and she plays well with Whitney (Wortham), and

we're grooming some of the other girls to come in."

Love said he wanted to see sophomore Haley Buckbee and senior Torri

Hensley more involved up front with Wortham and Tuttle, who mostly run

the show on scoring opportunities.

The youth of the team got involved in the second half when freshman

Ryann Cannava booted in a cross from Tuttle to push the lead to 3-0.

Senior Elena Bramante finished off the SoHi scoring for the day just

five minutes later on a corner kick from Tuttle.

Love said the underclassman, such as Cannava, Meijan Leaf, Journey

Miller and Faith Glassmaker, have helped to fill several vacated holes

left by last year's senior crop.

"We have a handful of (freshmen) them in there, and it fits the mold

for everyone," Love said.

Palmer ruined SoHi goalkeeper Abby Kruse's perfect sheet in the 52nd

minute with a shot by junior Caile Dosser, who beat SoHi defender

Sierra Longfellow on a run to the goal. Palmer senior Katie Crowley

added a second goal for the Moose with five minutes to play, getting a

bouncing ball to go over Kruse's head for the goal, but it came too

little, too late.

Kruse was making only her second varsity start of her career, further

adding a positive spark by the inexperienced crew on the team and

keeping Love happy with the improvements of his squad.

"It's amazing, we literally didn't have a keeper until some of the

basketball girls got together and told (Kruse) to come out," he said.

"She had a good game."

Soldotna boys 3, Palmer 0

The Stars received two goals from junior Eli Sheridan to grab their

first win of the year Friday over the Moose.

The victory left the Stars 1-1 overall and 1-0 in the conference.

Coming off a season-opening home loss to Homer earlier in the week,

the Stars turned on the pressure early against Palmer, pushing the

ball up the field and keeping it in Moose territory. Soldotna finished

the game with a 13-5 shots-on-goal advantage.

"I'm much happier with the team than our first effort," said SoHi head

coach Darryl Byerley. "We did a good job going to the ball and

possessing, and our shape and formation was good."

Junior Chase Miller earned the shutout in goal for SoHi with five

saves in just his second varsity start of his career, prompting

Byerley to sing his praises.

"A blank sheet is always good," he said.

A tackle on Sheridan in the goal box gave SoHi its first scoring

opportunity with a penalty kick in the 13th minute. Sheridan's shot

ricocheted off Palmer goalkeeper Caden Brown's hands and off the

corner of the frame before going in, giving the home team a lead.

Three minutes later, freshman Alex Montague set up Sheridan for

another goal with a deep run towards the goal line before turning back

and sending a pass up to Sheridan, who slotted it home for a 2-0 lead.

"He got the ball down there and was really patient before sending that

cross to Eli," Byerley said. "I thought our whole midfield was a

demonstration in patience."

A pair of yellow cards highlighted the physical play on field, with

Palmer's Makeehan Knittle being sent off in the 20th minute and

Soldotna's Ethan Bott given the same treatment in the 24th minute.

Bott ended up scoring for SoHi in the 62nd minute, getting a cross

from the left corner from junior teammate Luke Trammell.