Colony boys earn soccer shutouts over Kenai, Soldotna

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 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.

On Friday, the Knights had to bring a consistent attack to beat North and the Stars.

During the 26th minute, Colony appeared to be on the verge of taking a lead. Colony sophomore Cameron Shaw found himself deep in the box with the ball. Shaw put a shot on goal. But North dove to the turf. Fixed to the left post, North made the save and wrapped up the loose ball to prevent a rebound.

Five minutes later, Bolam fed Atkinson a ball from the midfield. In the left side of the box, Atkinson sent a laser on net, but North swallowed the opportunity.

Colony senior Chris Olsen did manage to find an answer for Colony, notching the hat trick in the 3-0 win over the Stars.

“He just found himself in good positions, and his teammates found him,” Johnson said. “He created space for himself, and give his teammates credit for finding him.”

In the 36th minute, Olsen took a feed from the midfield. Running alongside a defender, Olsen managed to beat the defense, and place a shot in the upper shelf of the Soldotna net to give Colony the 1-0 lead.

Olsen scored twice during the second half.

In the 45th minute, Bolam worked the ball up the right side, and sent a pass across to the far post. Olsen crashed and tipped in the attempt.

Thirteen minutes later, after a battle for the ball inside the box, the ball took a bad bounce over the head of North. Olsen was left all alone for the easy goal.

“Right place, right time. Sometimes you just have to walk it into the net,” Johnson said.

Sean Haley recorded both shutouts for the Knights in the Colony goal.

Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.