Turf gives Valley shot at April soccer

PALMER — Harmony Chadwick grew up playing soccer in the Valley. But even as a youth or prep player, or even more recently has the head coach of her alma mater, Chadwick wasn’t quite sure if she’d ever see the day when local teams could host a prep soccer game outside during the first week of April.

But on Friday, that’s exactly what Chadwick saw as her Palmer Moose took the field against the South Anchorage Wolverines at Colony High School.

“I grew up on Machetanz Field. We always had a good field, but it was dead grass until the end of the season,” said Chadwick, a Palmer High graduate and the head coach of the Moose girls team. “But this is amazing. It’s awesome. It feels so good. The first week of April in cleats on turf, it’s fantastic.”

The installation of field turf at Colony and Palmer high schools during the summer of 2012 has presented an early start for Valley prep soccer teams. During a two-day stretch Thursday and Friday six Valley varsity programs made their outdoor debuts. The Palmer boys and girls programs were set to make their home debut Thursday, but Machetanz Field remained partially covered with snow, ice and water earlier in the week.

Chadwick was not only excited about the chance to play an outdoor game in the Valley this early in the season, but was also thrilled with the chance to match her team against top competition.

“We were a little nervous as coaches, but the girls just wanted to play,” Chadwick said after the 5-1 loss to the defending 4A state champion Wolverines. “We got the first game under our belt against a non-region team, which is awesome. (It’s) against state champs, so we can see where we’re good at, and what we’ve got to work on.”

The nonconference rivals played scoreless into the second half, and South held just a 2-1 lead about 55 minutes in.

“I was very happy,” Chadwick said. “They put us on defense a lot. They had some opportunities, but we played really well.”

Junior Kat Godden was stellar in net for the Moose.

“Kat was on fire,” Chadwick said of her goalkeeper. “The South coach even commented on how well he thought she played.”

South scored a pair of quick goals during the first 10 minutes of the second half, but junior Jordan Brooke cut South’s lead in half.

Junior Elliot Perkins knocked a shot into the box, and Brooke was able to finish for the Moose.

South was able to consistently put shots on the Moose net, but Chadwick was happy with her defense, which features a new leader on the back side, senior Shanara Acker.

“They did a really good job of keeping shots outside the box,” Chadwick said. “They had a lot of shots going high and wide.”

Kevin Dearborn, the head coach of the Palmer boys team, also had the chance to see his team take on a perennial contender.

After a 4-0 loss to South, a team that’s 4-2 in six trips to the state championship game since 2005, Dearborn said he saw some good things, and things the Moose will need to work on. Overall, he said, good competition this early is good for the program.

“I think it will help,” he said.

Palmer is working to overcome the loss of nine starters to graduation, but Elliot Price helped his team’s cause with solid play in the Moose goal.

Overall, local coaches were elated at the opportunity to make their home debut during the first week of April. In past years, depending on weather, local teams would be lucky to take the field for the first time in late April in the Valley.

The Colony and Wasilla boys and girls programs met Thursday night at Colony High. Like Chadwick, Colony head coach Jeremy Johnson and Wasilla head coach Blake Livingston are Palmer graduates and former PHS players. Colony girls coach Lorie Miner is a Wasilla High graduate and a product of the Warrior girls team.

“We played soccer in the Valley with cleats in April,” Johnson said after his team’s 3-0 win over Wasilla on Thursday. “It’s wonderful.”

Livingston agreed.

“I’m just trying to take it in,” Livingston said. “To be outside this early in April on a nice field like this, it’s awesome.”

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