Boys soccer: Valley rivals battle to a lively 1-1 tie

WASILLA — In soccer, a game that doesn’t count in the official standings is commonly known as a “friendly” match. When Wasilla and Colony get together, that’s probably not the best choice of words. In a game that featured more than its share of controversy, collisions and cards, the two Valley rivals battled to a lively 1-1 draw Thursday at Veterans Memorial Field.

“Any time Colony and Wasilla match up, you can throw records out, you can throw conference or non conference out,” Wasilla coach Blake Livingston said following the game.

Colony dominated the first half of play, taking a 1-0 lead in the 33rd minute on a powerful left-footed strike from junior midfielder Weston Patrick.

Patrick’s goal was set up by his fellow junior midfielder Bridger Van Ness, who helped lead the Knights on a lightning-fast counter attack following a Wasilla free kick.

“I would say for the majority of the first half we were definitely on our heels,” Livingston said.

Patrick’s goal could have easily been the Knights’ second of the game, but a controversial goal by Knights striker Cody Fritz was disallowed after the head referee initially ruled the Colony junior had scored.

The play came after Van Ness sent a perfect free kick into the Wasilla box in front of freshman keeper Eli Tingstad. Fritz, a stocky, powerful player, went into the air to challenge Tingstad, knocking the goalie away while simultaneously flicking the ball on net with his head. The head referee pointed to midfield to signal a goal, setting off a wild protest by the Wasilla coaching staff, which felt Fritz had impeded Tingstad’s ability to go up for the ball.

“You can’t run through a keeper like that,” Livingston said.

One of the game’s two referee’s assistants had raised his flag to signal a foul on the play, but put it down after the goal was signaled. After listening to Livingston’s protests, however, the assistant and head referees held a brief conference, after which it was determined Fritz had indeed fouled the keeper.

Colony coach Jeremy Johnson then pleaded for the officials to again reconsider their decision, but his protest fell on deaf ears.

Following the game, Johnson said he was still confused by the disallowed goal, pointing out that the two officials closest to the play both signaled that a goal had been scored, while the assistant furthest from the play was allowed to overturn the original call.

“They both called a goal initially, and the off-side linesman 50 yards away didn’t like the call, and the other coaches obviously didn’t like the call and kinda raised a stink and there was a discussion and they decided not to call it a goal,” he said.

Johnson said he’d just have to live with the call.

“Ultimately it’s in the referees’ hands and I have to go with their decision,” he said.

For his part, an obviously disappointed Fritz said he felt like he hadn’t done anything illegal to score the goal.

“My hands were down, and that’s legal, but whatever,” he said.

Colony nearly got another goal in the half off a powerful strike from sophomore midfielder Logan Smith, who beat Tingstad from point-blank range — but not Wasilla’s Tillerman Kroon, who cleared the ball off the goal line just in the nick of time. The play was one of several the junior central defender made to keep the game close in the opening half.

“Tillerman was a rock back there,” Livingston said. “He set the tone I think for the whole team.”

The first half ended with the Knights holding a 1-0 lead, despite having the majority of the scoring chances early on.

That changed quickly in the second half, as the defending Northern Lights Conference champion Warriors started to find their rhythm, stringing passes together with greater frequency as they began to force the action.

After getting several good scoring chances to open the half, the Warriors finally broke through in the 63rd minute, when senior forward Adam Friese took a slick feed from freshman midfielder Paul Sliwa and cleanly beat Colony sophomore goalie Elliot Gilbert from just eight yards out.

Just two minutes later, Wasilla’s Joe Barkley nearly put the Warriors in front, hitting the post with a wicked blast that just snuck past a diving Gilbert.

Barkley’s near-miss was the final big chance of the game for either team, though not for a lack of trying. Players from both sides were unafraid to mix it up throughout, frequently running through one another in an effort to gain possession. The physical play led to a number of yellow cards being handed out, including four for the Knights and one for Wasilla.

Despite the rough play, however, there didn’t appear to be any hard feeling following the match, and Johnson said some spirited play is to be expected when the two rivals clash on the pitch.

“There’s a lot of pushing and shoving, but as you see, they’re also helping each other up after the whistle,” he said.

Both Colony and Wasilla are in action again today, with Colony hosting Kenai Central and the Warriors welcoming Nikiski.

The two teams face off for real May 16 at Colony in the final regular season game for both squads.

While Thursday’s draw didn’t count in the standings, Johnson said it did establish that neither Colony or Wasilla will be pushed around by anyone this year.

“It helped set the tone for the season.”

Contact Matt Tunseth at 352-2265 or matt.tunseth@frontiersman.com