Prep girls soccer: Freshman leads Knights to win over Skyview

SOLDOTNA — Colony used a strong tailwind to blow away the Skyview Panthers 5-1 Friday in Soldotna.

The Knights opened the game with the wind at their backs, and made the most of it as they raced to a 3-1 lead after the opening 40 minutes of play.

“I think they took the wind to their advantage and capitalized on it,” Skyview coach Ronnie Kier said after the game.

Colony got two goals from freshman striker Jamie Krediet and one tally each from Kara Larson, Jessica Farrell and Katie Gonski.

Farrell, a sophomore, set up the game’s opening score with a booming kick with the wind that soared from deep in the Colony end all the way over the heads of the last Skyview defenders. Streaking downfield, Larson was the only player who could catch up with Farrell’s smash, getting in all alone and beating Skyview keeper Hailey Driver in the 19th minute.

The game settled down briefly before a flurry of activity before the half ended with Colony taking firm command of the game.

Krediet got her first goal in the 32nd minute, ripping a rising rocket from just outside the box that left Driver shaking her head.

Four minutes later, the Panthers finally got into the act, putting together a nifty counter-attack that ended when Joanna Graves put a perfect cross on the foot of Amanda Millay, who beat Colony goalie Katelyn Payne on the Panthers’ first shot of the half.

Farrell again showed off her big boot just before the half when she hit another smash from outside the box that whistled past Driver and nearly ripped a hole in the back of the net.

“Those were just phenomenal shots,” Kier said.

Playing into the wind in the second half, the Knights switched to a more controlled game, with midfielder Tara Garrod showing off her ball-control skills and helping lead a calm, controlled Colony attack.

“The second half, we just told them we need to play a possession game,” Colony coach Lori Miner said.

Showing off some nifty passing, the Knights controlled the second half from start to finish, running the Panthers in circles for the game’s final 40 minutes.

“When you have players like Tara and Kara, and you have playmakers on the other side with Katie Gonski and Ally [Wood] or Liza [Laughlin] or Tara Murray, they just have this natural ability to communicate and know what one another is doing,” Miner said.

Skyview went up 4-1 just three minutes into the second half when Gonski chipped the ball into the net from a tricky angle, then finished things off in the 78th minute when Krediet calmly put home a penalty kick awarded after Colony forward Danielle Querin was taken down in the box.

Skyview’s Kier said his team knew Colony would be tough to handle, and said getting off to a slow start against the Knights didn’t make things any easier.

“You know you’ve got to bring your ‘A’ game against them.”

Contact Frontiersman sports reporter Matt Tunseth at matt.tunseth@frontiersman.com.