The Soldotna and Homer girls and boys soccer teams all took losses Saturday on the road.
Colony girls 1, Soldotna 0
The visiting Stars stand at 1-1-1 overall after the nonconference loss to the Knights.
SoHi coach Jimmy Love said this was his team’s best game of the year so far.
“If we use that as a marker, that’s the style and aggression we want to go in with,” Love said. “That’s what we’re looking at.”
Love said Colony moves the ball well in the midfield and makes good runs, but that the Stars may have ended up with better opportunities than the Knights. He said just one miscommunication led to Colony’s goal.
While Love expects the defense to be the bedrock of this group, he said the whole team was excellent Saturday. While the defense was stingy with opportunities, he said the midfield kept the Knights from stringing together passes and the forwards were able to put sustained pressure on Colony’s defense.
“Everybody was putting on a little bit of pressure, and that goes a long way,” Love said. “That’s one thing I want them to take out of this — the little elements make a big difference in the outcome of the game.”
Colony boys 6, Soldotna 2
The visiting Stars fell to 1-1-1 after the Saturday loss to the Knights.
With 15 minutes left in the first half, Maleda Denbrock scored to give SoHi a 1-0 lead. The Knights then erupted for five goals before the end of the first half to take control of the game.
“Besides the stretch where we gave up all the goals, I think we actually played really well,” SoHi coach Erik Dolphin said. “We spent almost the whole first half playing really tight with them. After that stretch at the end of the first half, we woke ourselves up and were able to get back to playing better soccer.”
Dolphin was proud of playing Colony to a 1-all tie in the second half despite SoHi being at the end of three games in three days. Silas Larsen, assisted by Cody Uribe-Koivisto, had the goal for the Stars in the second half.
The SoHi coach said freshman Daniel Heath ended a string of three solid games in goal.
“To have to play Kenai, North Pole and Colony,” Dolphin said. “You couldn’t have a more gutsy performance than that kid put forth.”
The coach also gave credit to Zac Buckbee and Collin Peck for playing nearly every minute of the three games at the challenging position of center midfield. He also said the back line of Parker Rose, Jace O’Reagan and Hamilton Hunt continues to be solid.
Juneau girls 5, Homer 1
The visiting Mariners are 1-1-2 after the loss to Juneau-Douglas: Yadaa.at Kale.
With about 15 minutes left in the second half, Homer scored to cut the gap to 4-1. Tozzo said the goal came from a scramble in front of the net, with Emma Grimes and Anna Neland deserving credit.
“I think we played pretty well today,” Tozzo said. “Juneau’s good, but they’re not what they used to be. They weren’t crushing us.
“They’re definitely solid, well organized and work together as a team. I don’t think there was ever the potential of us getting beat 10 or 11-0.”
Playing a third game in three days, Tozzo said he made a bunch of substitutions.
He said Felicia Weisser saw a bunch of shots in goal, getting needed practice.
“Over the weekend, we saw tough competition and we were able to persevere and hold our own,” Tozzo said.
Juneau boys 9, Homer 0
The Mariners were originally scheduled to play Thunder Mountain, but got a look at Juneau-Douglas: Yadaa.at Kale when the Crimson Bears couldn’t got on a trip due to a flight cancellation. Homer is now 1-3 overall.
“This weekend was a great learning experience for the kids,” Homer coach Adam Diaz said. “Aside from having to play back to back to back, they didn’t stop. Just taking this energy back to our conference will be beneficial for us.”
