Knights open prep soccer season with wins

PALMER — Snow bordered the field and flakes lightly fell, but after postponing six varsity matches last week, the Colony Knights finally had to chance to officially hit the field.

The Knights, who spent about two weeks clearing their home turf of snow, swept a pair of nonconference matches against East Anchorage Wednesday at Colony High School.

“We got the games in, that’s what mattered. It was not ideal by any means,” said Jeremy Johnson, head coach of both the Colony boys’ and girls’ teams.

Johnson said it was nice to see his players hit the turf without a shovel in hand. Two weeks ago, the Knights spent two full practices pushing snow off the turf. But another six to eight inches dumped on the Palmer area. Last week, Colony was back at it. The Knights spent most of the week shoveling. They fina ally had the snow pushed to the sidelines on Friday.

Both the Colony boys and girls recorded shutouts Wednesday. The boys scored an 8-0 win, and the girls followed with a 3-0 victory.

Kyle Dearborn used a hat trick to help the Colony boys open their season with a victory. Dearborn was one of four different players to score in the first half.

During the 16th minute, Dearborn crashed and knocked a rebound high into the net to open the scoring. A dozen minutes later, Logan Curtis got a hold of a loose ball in the box and capitalized on an opportunity set up by a long throw in courtesy of Martin Jones.

Cade Johnstone and Mike Shower scored within a five-minute span late in the first.

Ethan Overland scored in the second half. Dearborn added Colony’s final two goals of the game.

“The boys looked really good,” Johnson said “I was impressed, really happy with their possession.”

Johnson said he felt his boys opened the season strong, despite spending so much of the last two weeks on snow removal duty.

“That was the part I liked. The boys really put in a good effort, not having touched a soccer ball. They communicated well,” Johnson said. “I really liked their communication, chemistry.”

Connor Friesen led the Knights with a pair of assists. Michael Sliwa, Sullivan Menard and Noah Krozel added helpers.

Johnson said he’s also happy with the girls’ 3-0 win over East, but there is more work ahead in terms of chemistry.

“Unlike the boys, the girls graduated a few more players. There are newer players, and older players in new positions,” Johnson said.

Junior Gabby Wakaliuk gave the Knights a lead and freshman Ailey Hill added a pair of goals. Colony’s senior leader, Maddy Zmuda, recorded the shutout in net.

Johnson said the girls’ game was a hard-fought match.

“There was aggressive play. Both teams were battling really hard,” Johnson said.

The matches against East came after games against Dimond, West Anchorage and South Anchorage that had to be postponed due to the snow on the field. Johnson said only a girls game against West could not be rescheduled.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.