Knights use strong finish to drown Mariners 5-1

PALMER — The Colony Knights started with a trot, but ended with a sprint.

After a slow 70 minutes, Colony scored three late goals within a four-minute span to grab a 5-1 win over the Homer Mariners at Colony High School on Saturday.

Senior Tara Murray scored twice in two minutes, and junior Adriane Richey added another late score to help the Knights improve to 2-0-2 overall.

“We found the open space on the left side there and took advantage of it,” Colony co-captain Katie Gonski said of Murray’s scores.

Murray — appropriately nicknamed “Turbo” by her teammates — sped up the left side and put a shot from a hard angle into the far side of the net during the 70th minute to give the 3-1 lead.

Just two minutes later, sophomore Jamie Krediet fed Murray with the ball, and Murray put another shot into the same spot of the Homer net.

Richey booted a high kick from 20 yards out into the corner of the net during the 74th minute to ice the game for the Knights.

While the goals were nice, Colony head coach Lorie Miner said it’s what preceded the scores that made the difference.

“We were finally making those connecting passes just prior to that first goal going in,” Miner said. “We’ve been talking to them about that. They got those passes and strung them together. That made a big difference.”

The Knights built a 2-0 lead in the first half, but held just a one-goal advantage for much of the second half.

Miner called the play “sluggish,” Colony senior co-captain Kara Larson felt the Knights weren’t going hard after the ball.

The Knights continued to put pressure on the Homer defense, but didn’t give themselves a cushion until late in the game.

“We were kind of losing our focus, not really playing the possession game as we usually do,” Gonski said.

Homer goalkeeper Lindsay Layland also continued to make saves.

“They’re keeper was really good,” Larson said. “She kept them in that game.”

Larson and sophomore Lizza Laughlin scored in the first half to give the Knights the 2-0 lead.

Laughlin knocked a cross from Krediet at the right side into the far end of the net during the 12th minute to put the Knights on the scoreboard. Larson used a header to redirect a Krediet cross during the 33rd minute.

Homer posted its lone score on a Jill Temple direct kick, six minutes into the second half.

Temple’s kick found a hole in the Colony defense and ended up in the right section of the net.

Miner felt confusion led to the score.

“Our kids were looking at the referees and got missed signals as far as if it was a direct kick or an indirect kick,” Miner said.

Colony 11, Skyview 0

PALMER — Colony scored an 11-0 win over the Skyview Panthers at Colony High School on Friday.

Sophomore Jamie Krediet led the Knights with three goals and two assists.

Junior Jessica Farrell, junior Katie Gonski and senior Kara Larson scored two goals each for the Knights.

Junior Tara Murray and sophomore Liza Laughlin also scored for the Colony team.

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