Colony girls slip by Warriors in state tourney

WASILLA -- For 71 minutes the Colony Knight and Wasilla Warrior girls' soccer squads stood deadlocked in a scoreless tie.

Then something happened.

A bizarre bounce went in favor of the Knights and Colony was able to jump ahead with the lead and control the remainder of the game.

Knight senior Sianna Garrod scored a pair of goals in the final nine minutes of regulation to lead Colony to a 2-0 win over Wasilla in the consolation round of the ASAA State Soccer Tournament last Friday.

With just more than nine minutes left in regulation, Garrod took a pass from Sianna Locke, weaved the ball through traffic and put a shot on the Wasilla net.

The ball ricocheted off the left post and bounced into the right side of the net.

The goal gave Colony the lead, the momentum and completely changed the game.

What sparked the Knights? Colony head coach Lorie Miner had an easy explanation.

"Enthusiasm," Miner said. "Something we have not had for a while.

"It brought the level of play up."

Garrod scored her second goal with two minutes left. The senior striker beat a pair of defenders and put the ball into the right side of the net.

Between the Garrod goals, Colony was able to maintain momentum and keep pressure on Wasilla goalkeeper Melissa Wallace.

"We all decided we wanted it," Garrod said. "It was a matter of heart."

Wasilla had a handful of opportunities to take the lead in the scoreless first half.

Four minutes into the game Wasilla had a 2-on-1 opportunity.

Colony keeper Julie Costen dove to stop a Megan Stearman shot.

Stearman alone had two other solid scoring opportunities in the first half.

Cassie LaCross just missed on a free kick in the first half. The LaCross boot bounced off the top p ost of the Colony net, right above the fingertips of Costen.

"I thought in the first half we outplayed Colony," Wasilla head coach Tony Jensen said. "We played with Wasilla in the second, but they are able to create their own luck and it showed."