3 Valley teams move forward

KENAI — Wasilla head coach Blake Livingston knew his two-time defending conference champion Warriors would have a tough road as they began their fight for a third straight title.

Wasilla took its first step toward a three-peat Thursday, scoring a tough 4-1 win over Kenai during the first day of the Northern Lights Conference Championships at the Kenai Soccer Complex.

“It was a tighter match than the score indicated,” Livingston said by cellphone from Kenai Thursday.

Wasilla led just 1-0 at halftime, but added three goals in the second half. With the win, Wasilla moves into the semifinal round to play Soldotna today at 5 p.m. Soldotna, the top seed from the NLC South, eliminated Palmer with a 5-1 win over the Moose Thursday evening.

Cash McGregor, Oleg Lozko and Elijah Crawford recorded second-half goals for Wasilla. Ethan Keenan scored on a breakaway to give the Warriors a first-half lead.

Livingston said both teams battled cold temperatures, rain and windy weather.

“Both teams really kind of struggled to gain any kind of momentum in the first half,” Livingston said. “I’m proud of the way the guys battled. They never put their heads down.”

Colony also moved into the boys semifinals with a 7-0 win over Nikiski in the quarterfinals.

Chris Olsen led the Knights with a pair of goals. Asher Dale, John Kander, Nick Blohm, Artie Fonov and Kyle Bolam also scored for the Knights. Chaz Stephens led the Knights with three assists.

Colony moves forward to face Homer. The Mariners upset Grace Christian 3-0 during the quarterfinals. Grace was the No. 2 seed from the NLC North.

Freshman leads

Colony girls

past Nikiski

KENAI — Colony freshman Peyton Johnstone scored five goals to lead Colony to a 7-1 win over Nikiski during the first round of the Northern Lights Conference Championships in Kenai Thursday.

Senior Ali Baker also scored twice in the win.

Baker, Johnstone, Ashley James, Rebecca Mackey and Sabrina Pralle all had assists.

Colony will face Kenai today at 11 a.m. in the semifinals. The Kards moved forward and eliminated Palmer with a 4-1 win over the Moose. Miracle Burton scored the lone goal for Palmer.

Wasilla was also eliminated with a 3-1 loss to Soldotna.

Sophomore Alexa Starr chipped a shot from about 40 yards out past the Soldotna keeper during the first half to give the Warriors the 1-0 lead. Wasilla, which suffered a loss to Soldotna last week during its regular-season finale, led 1-0 at halftime.

“We changed our formation to give them a different look,” Wasilla head coach Patrick O’Neill said by cellphone from Kenai Thursday. “SoHi is the three-time defending champs. We threw everything we had at them and came up short. We grew leaps and bounds today, and we can hold our heads high for the effort we gave.”

Soldotna moves forward to face Grace Christian, which eliminated Homer with a 5-1 win.