Warriors, Hawks and Knights earn wins over Peninsula foes

WASILLA — Playing a physical Soldotna squad, Wasilla opted for finesse.

And the Warriors enjoyed a lot of success.

Wasilla scored six times in the second half en route to a 7-0 win over the Stars Friday at Wasilla High School.

“Against a physical team, you want to keep the ball up the ground. Not hang on to it,” Wasilla head coach Patrick O’Neill said.

O’Neill could not have scripted a better opening minute of the second half for his squad. Right off the opening touch, Alexis Friesen took possession on the left side of the field and chipped the ball to the midfield to Reese Sande. There, Sande moved the ball forward to Ally Hull.

Hull played it across from the left to the right, and Sande tapped a goal in from the right side.

“It’s a big deal,” O’Neill said of the fluid ball movement. “It’s hard to defend when teams move the ball quickly.”

Sande’s goal sparked a big start to the second half for the Warriors, who scored four times in the first eight minutes of the second half. Wasilla continued to use the quick movement to attack, and continued to have success.

“When you’re playing a team coming hard, playing the body, you have to get rid of the ball quickly,” O’Neill said.

Abby Crawford, who opened the scoring for the Warriors with a first-half goal, scored twice during the first eight minutes of the second. She used a hard strike in the 45th minute to give her team the 3-0 lead, and notched her hat trick by crashing the net and knocking a loose ball set up by a rocket fired by Alia Donley off the SoHi keeper. Friesen also scored in that eight-minute stretch, lifting a shot just over the reach of the Soldotna keeper.

Hull added a goal in the 60th minute and Emily Summers rounded out the scoring a with a late tally for the Warriors.

Wasilla’s win over SoHi came the night after a 6-0 nonconference victory over Thunder Mountain at Wasilla High. O’Neill said he was happy to see his squad bounce back from a 4-1 Northern Lights Conference North Division loss to Colony on Tuesday.

“The girls didn’t really over-react,” O’Neill said of the loss to the Knights.

Stars get past Warriors

The Soldotna Stars scored a 7-2 NLC win over Wasilla Friday night at Wasilla High School.

Wasilla netted both of its goals in the second half.

Warriors get another shutout

Much like during its win over Soldotna on Friday, the Warriors enjoyed a big second half en route a victory over Kenai Saturday afternoon. Wasilla scored four times in the second half during the 5-0 win over the Kards.

Alia Donley led Wasilla with a pair of goals. Reese Sande, Ally Hull and Alexis Friesen also scored for the Warriors.

Wasilla scored twice during a two-minute stretch early in the second half to take a 3-0 lead.

Houston girls blank Mariners

The Houston Hawks girls soccer squad continued arguably its most successful season scoring a 2-0 win over Homer Friday night at Houston High.

“The girls played outstanding,” Houston head coach Steve Day said in an email Friday night.

Cassie Kapuniai and Megan Adair scored goals for the Hawks. Freshman Maddy Hull also came up with a big goal-saving play on defense, Day said.

The Homer boys beat Houston 5-0.

Hat tricks help Knights sweep Homer

Noah Krozel and Kyle Dearborn each finished with a hat trick in Colony’s 7-2 boys win over Homer Thursday night.

Caleb Covington also had a goal.

Gabby Wakaliuk led the Colony girls with three goals during a 5-0 win over the Mariners. Annie Kessler and Sahara Iverson also scored.

Moose, Mariners play to tie

The Palmer and Homer girls played to a scoreless tie Saturday afternoon at Palmer High.

Falcons get past Moose

Thunder Mountain scored a 3-1 nonconference win over Palmer Friday. Emma Obeso scored the lone goal for the Moose.

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