PALMER — About 20 minutes into play Saturday, with the score still tied, Colony’s Kyle Bolam stepped up to the ball for a penalty kick.
Bolam, who has scored his fair share of goals during his time with the Knights, ripped an attempt on net. Kenai goalkeeper Wren Norwood stopped the initial attempt. But the ball was let loose, and Bolam took another crack at it. Once again, Norwood was there for the save.
Colony put 22 shots on the Kenai keeper, but it took the Knights 60 minutes to find the back of the net. Despite the play of Norwood, Colony came away with a 2-0 Northern Lights Conference win over the Kardinals at Colony High School.
“It was a really nice save, and he managed to stop the rebound,” Colony head coach Jeremy Johnson said of the play.
It was the second straight day that Colony faced a strong goalkeeper. The Knights put 20 shots on Soldotna goalkeeper Kayne North during a 3-0 Friday win over the Stars.
“Against both teams we had to deal with that,” Johnson said of playing against teams with quality keepers. “It makes you have to find different ways to score. You can’t do the same thing over and over. Tactically, you need to figure out what to do different.”
The Knights also had to take advantage of opportunities.
During the 62nd minute Saturday, Colony captain Ben Atkinson cracked a shot on goal. The hard rebound off the Norwood save bounced out to about the 12-yard-line. Norwood came out to challenge, but Bolam was able to take the ball on a hop, and redirect it into the net.
Later in the match, Austin Richardson converted a penalty kick to give the Knights the 2-0 lead.
Sean Haley recorded the shutout for the Knights in the Colony goal.
Kenai girls 5, Colony 0
The Kardinals finished off a solid first weekend with a convincing win over the Knights.
“We’re developing a passing game I haven’t seen in quite a few years,” Kenai coach Dan Verkuilen said. “They are a young group developing a harmony amongst each other and an understanding of how everybody likes to move.”
Heidi Perkins, assisted by Caitlin Steinbeck, started the scoring in the ninth minute. Just four minutes later, Allie Ostrander dribbled through the defense for an unassisted goal.
In the 27th minute, Hannah Drury knocked in a header on a cross from Abi Tuttle. Verkuilen noted that Drury earned a steak dinner for knocking in the first header of the year.
Just one minute later, the Kards had a 4-0 lead when Willow Napolitano converted a cross from Abi Tuttle.
In the second half, Ostrander finished off the scoring with another unassisted trip through the defense.
Alli Steinbeck had the shutout in net. Verkuilen said defenders Kylie Morse, Perkins, Caitlin Steinbeck and Cassie Holmes allowed on three shots on net.
Soldotna girls 6, Palmer 0
Alyssa Wolfe had a hat trick, while her sister Kylee added two goals, to lead the Stars past the visiting Moose on Saturday.
The Stars moved to 2-0 with the win, both against NLC Northern Division teams.
“It was a great way to start the season,” Soldotna coach Jimmy Love said. “The north is a pretty strong side of our region, and it’s always interesting how we match up with them.”
The Stars took a 3-0 lead after one half when Olivia Conradi scored on assists from Julie Litchfield and Alyssa Wolfe, Alyssa Wolfe scored on an assist from Conradi, and Kylee Wolfe scored on assists from Kelci Benson and Makenna Rosin.
Alyssa Wolfe started the second half with goals on assists from Taryn McCubbins, and Kylee Wolfe and Conradi. Kylee Wolfe finished off the scoring on an assist from Skylar Shaw.
Katelynn Kerkvliet had the shutout in net.
“We did a lot of the same things we did (Friday) — passing, communicating, spreading out and the defense was working the ball back to the keeper when they needed to,” Love said. “I couldn’t be any happier with the start to the season.”
Soldotna boys 3, Palmer 1
The visiting Stars notched a NLC victory to improve to 1-1 on the year.
After getting shut out Friday against Colony, Ty Fenton gave SoHi its first tally of the year 18 minutes into the game.
“It was good to come out with a strong showing in the first half,” SoHi coach Jeff Siemers said. “Our guys played their best half so far.”
Charalambos Asimakopoulos had the second goal for Soldotna, while Fenton had the third. Kayne North had the win in net, while Siemers said Dylan Kuntz was solid in the midfield.
Wasilla girls 13, Seward 0
Ally Hull had four goals as the visiting Warriors notched a Northern Lights Conference win to improve to 6-1 overall and 5-0 in the NLC.
The boys game between Seward and Wasilla was canceled.
Skyview at Kodiak, canceled
The Panthers were unable to make the trip to Kodiak due to ferry problems.
