Warrior style

PALMER — Following a tough 3-2 loss at the hands of Grace Christian last Thursday, the Wasilla Warriors found themselves with a lackluster 1-1-1 record — hardly the kind of start the defending Northern Lights Conference champions had expected coming into the season.

“We were pretty down about that,” senior striker Adam Friese said Monday.

Friese said coach Blake Livingston gathered the team together following the Grace loss and told them it was time to get back to playing Warrior-style soccer.

“He talked about finding our identity,” Friese said. “We used to be a team that would go hard the whole game, and after that we were like, ‘where did it go?’”

Apparently, nowhere.

Wasilla (4-1-1) reeled off its third consecutive victory Monday afternoon, defeating Palmer 2-0 on goals by Friese and Jimmy Sliwa. As the first of two meetings between the Valley rivals this season, Monday’s games did not count in the NLC standings.

“We were a little bit hesitant I think our first few games, but now I think we’re getting the hang of it,” Friese said.

Sliwa got things started early for the Warriors on Monday, making Moose keeper Gabe Gatto pay for mishandling the ball in front of the Palmer net, hammering the ball home to give the Warriors a 1-0 lead just six minutes into the game.

Palmer coach Kevin Dearborn said the Moose (1-3-0) have struggled this season by giving up early goals and having to play from behind.

“It’s tough to come back,” he said.

Palmer held the Warriors off for the rest of the first half, leaving the Moose down just a goal on their home field, a situation Dearborn said he wasn’t entirely unhappy with.

“I thought at halftime, only being down 1-0, we had a chance,” Dearborn said.

But despite some solid pressure from speedy sophomore forwards Zach Zegydryn and Brennan Bohman, the Moose were rarely able to challenge Wasilla freshman goalie Eli Tingstad, who didn’t have to work particularly hard to earn his third shutout of the

season.

Tingstad was helped out greatly by the play of defenders Brad Primmer, David Muzechuk and Dustin Hout, who consistently were able to clear the ball before Palmer could put together scoring chances.

Though he anchored the back line, Primmer’s lone mistake on the afternoon did lead to Palmer’s best scoring chance of the game.

Early in the second half, Palmer junior Steven Williams stole the ball outright from Primmer deep in Wasilla territory, breaking in on Tingstad. Williams faked out the Wasilla keeper and crossed to a streaking teammate, who fired on the empty net — only to see the ball cleared at the last possible second by Muzechuk, who kicked the ball out of danger and prevented the Moose from tying the

game.

Shortly thereafter, a careless clearance by Gatto led to Wasilla’s second goal, as the Palmer goalie kicked the ball directly to Friese in front of the Moose net — and the senior had no trouble making Palmer pay at the 53-minute mark.

“That’s a big thing we’ve been talking about with our strikers, that our coach has been talking about, is to be opportunistic,” Friese said. “We need to be like sharks around the net.”

Gatto, who was playing despite getting a dozen stitches in his chin the day before, punched the goal post in frustration after his mistake.

“I think he was a little disappointed in himself,” Dearborn said.

Gatto later got some redemption, making two spectacular diving saves on back-to-back shots from Adam Friese and Paul Sliwa in the game’s closing minutes to keep things close.

Overall, Dearborn said he was happy with how his team played, pointing out the fact that the Warriors easily handled Palmer in the teams’ two meetings last season.

“I think we’re headed in a positive direction,” he said.

And, he said, the Moose and Warriors still have their more important NLC game later this month at Wasilla left on the schedule.

“I don’t ever like to lose, but it matters the most the second time.”

WASILLA 2, PALMER 0

Monday, Palmer High School

Wasilla (2) — J. Sliwa (6th), A. Friese (53rd)

Yellow cards — Palmer 2 (Hard, Husa), Wasilla 0.