A road trip to the Kenai Peninsula was just what the Eagle River boys soccer team needed to get in the right frame of mind.
"We got a bit of a boost down there," said Wolves senior midfielder Kevin Long, who scored Eagle River's first goal in its 2-0 win on Wednesday over Palmer.
The victory was the first of the year for Eagle River, which opened the season 0-6 against Cook Inlet Conference foes. But the team had a tie and loss on its trip south, including a tightly-contested 2-0 loss at Soldotna Friday and a 1-1 draw in Homer on Saturday against the Mariners.
Going unbeaten in its last two games is something the team can build on, Long said, and spending time on the road together helped the team build some much-needed unity.
"It helped us to get to know each other a little better," he said.
That's carried over to the field, where he said the team has been stringing more passes together than earlier in the season.
"That's something we need to keep working on, that and not getting down on ourselves," he said.
Long's first-period strike came in the 21st minute off an assist from Keaton Sullivan, who carried the ball down the left side and into the penalty area before dropping it for Long, who calmly finished with a clinical right-footed kick.
Ten minutes later the Wolves' dogged pressure paid off again – this time with an assist from Lady Luck. After Palmer goalie Brandon Banks made a pair of point-blank stops, the ball rolled to Eagle River's Dylan Johnson, who fired on net. Banks appeared to be in position to make the stop, but Johnson's shot ricocheted off Palmer defender Elliott Price and past Banks for an own goal.
Eagle River goalies Jeff Hartmann and Keegan Willeford combined to earn the shutout, with Hartmann – normally a defender – playing in net for all of the first half and into the second before giving way to the team's primary keeper with about 30 minutes to play.
Palmer was able to apply more pressure in the second half, but not enough to break through. The Moose had chances in the second half, including a free kick by Price from just outside the box that sailed over the crossbar, and coach Jason Rice said he was happy with his team's resiliency.
"The second half was a much different game," said Rice, who noted the Moose were missing a handful of starters because of a variety of reasons.
He praised goalie Banks for keeping the game close despite a bevy of dangerous scoring chances by the Wolves.
"He's the best goalie in the state," Rice said of the junior keeper.
As well as Banks played, it was Eagle River's players leaving the field smiling after getting their first win after a month of disappointment.
"We needed this," Long said. "We've been on a bad streak, so this feels really nice to get a win."
Dimond 10, East 0
Dimond remained undefeated with a 10-0 blanking of East on Wednesday at Dimond Alumni Field.
The Lynx got two goals each from Cole Fox, James Curro and Cedarian Brunelle, as well as one from Trask Shamburg, Jae Ham, Colin O'Hare and James Aguilar as they improved to 8-0-2.
Jack Sedor notched four assists for Dimond, which also got three helpers from Shamburg, two from Fox and one from Curro.
GIRLS
Eagle River 5, Palmer 0
Eagle River completed a sweep of Palmer when its girls soccer team defeated the Moose 5-0 on Wednesday night in Eagle River.
Jordan Meredith and Allonna Walker scored twice for the wolves, who also got a tally from Allison Jimenez. Mallory Garbe added a pair of assists and Tara Fisher picked up the shutout in net.
Contact reporter Matt Tunseth at 257-4335 or mtunseth@alaskadispatch.com