Knights find goove too late in 2-1 loss

PALMER — The Colony Knights have shown a tendency to grab the momentum late in the match.

But on Friday, the Knights were too late.

Soldotna used scores from Jessi Stenga and Kaili Sholin and the Stars held Colony off the scoreboard until the final minute of play during a 2-1 win over the Knights at Colony High School on Friday.

“It seems like once we scored, our enthusiasm was up,” Colony co-captain Katie Gonski said. “But we only had 30 seconds left.”

Senior Tara Murray put a shot into the far side of the net from the left side of the field during the final minute of play to account for Colony’s lone score. Led by the speedy Murray, the Knights have shown the knack for scoring often late in the match, but could only put together one goal against the Stars.

“It seemed like we didn’t really click,” Gonski said. “We’re a second-half team anyway, and in the second half it just took us a little longer than normal.”

Stenga used her speed to send a shot past Colony goalkeeper Katelyn Payne on a breakaway during the 55th minute.

“The keeper challenged and (Stenga) did a great job of making a move and finding the back of the net,” Soldotna head coach Mike Tovoli said. “She did a great job of crossing the ball to the net.”

Faced with the one-on-one opportunity, Stenga — who took advantage of open space on the right side — made a quick move around Payne and had an open net to shoot at.

Colony head coach Lorie Miner said it was a gap in her team’s defense, rather than the play of the goalie, that led to the Stars’ first goal.

“They saw it and took advantage of it,” Miner said.

Regardless, the play caught the Knights off guard.

“We weren’t really ready for that,” Murray said.

Sholin gave the Stars the two-goal lead in the 68th minute when she popped a short shot right over the finger tips of Payne.

The Soldotna sophomore was able to position herself deep within the Colony box, and was able to tuck a shot just under the cross bar and just out of the reach of Payne, who stood almost directly in front of Sholin.

Overall, Miner said she was disappointed with the loss, but not necessarily by how her team played.

“We played well. I’m very happy and pleased with the way they played,” Miner said. “But we just couldn’t get those shots to go in.”

Colony 1, Kenai 1

PALMER — The Colony Knights and Kenai Kardinals played to a 1-1 tie at Colony High School on Saturday.

After Molly Graves gave the Kards the lead in the first half, Colony tied the game at 1-1 during the 60th minute.

Colony is now 4-1-3 overall.

Kenai 3, Palmer 1

PALMER — Junior Chelsea Riley took a break from her spot in the Palmer goal and came out to the field to score Palmer’s lone goal during a 3-1 loss to Kenai on Friday at Houston High School.

Palmer is now 5-5-0 overall.

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