Boys prep soccer: Colony tops Soldotna

PALMER - It's been an unusual first two games for the Colony High School boys' soccer squad.

The Knights were forced to settle for a scoreless tie in their season opener against Wasilla last week - a little unusual.

Why?

The defending Northern Lights Conference champions were not shut out last season.

On Wednesday, Colony found the back of the net seven times in a 7-1 win over Soldotna at CHS.

A little out of the ordinary.

Why?

Colony didn't score more than four goals at all last season during its run to the state championship game.

&#8220We're not known for scoring a lot of goals,” Colony head coach Jeremy Johnson said. &#8220We (always) scored three or four last year. It's nice to break out and get seven.”

The 13-1-1 Knights averaged just around three goals each game last year. And even though they are doing it the hard way, with a scoreless outing and a seven-goal effort, the Knights are back to averaging about three goals per game.

Seniors Jarrod Carney and Gerald Miller combined for five of their team's seven scores. Bryan Peters and Kole Rappuhn also scored for CHS.

Carney, Peters and Eric Hershey each posted two assists.

Keeper Ian Walton earned the win in goal.

Colony consistently put pressure on the Soldotna net, and had scoring opportunities throughout the

contest.

&#8220We were knocking the ball wide, getting crosses in, getting numbers in the box,” Johnson said.

Colony (1-0-1) jumped to a 3-0 lead with a trio of scores in the first 25 minutes of play. Carney booted the ball through s flurry of traffic in front of the Stars' net to give the Knights the three-goal advantage.

Carney scored twice more in the second half.

Soldotna's lone goal came midway through. The shot took odd bounces off a pair of Soldotna players in front of the Colony net.

In girls' action Soldotna topped Colony 4-1. The Knights slipped to 0-2-0.

Both Colony squads are back in action tonight. The Colony girls host Kenai Central at 4 p.m. at CHS, while the boys face Kenai at 6 p.m.

Soldotna is at Palmer.

Contact sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at 352-2273, or sports@frontiersman.com.