Wasilla wins thriller

ANCHORAGE — Aaron Sharrow has been nicknamed “Crash” for most of his soccer life. Maybe it’s time to start calling him “Clutch.”

Sharrow knocked in the game-winning score off a Paul Sliwa corner kick during the 77th minute to give the seventh-seeded Wasilla Warriors a 1-0 upset victory over rival second seed Colony during the first round of the ASAA/First National Bank State Soccer Championships at Anchorage Football Stadium on Wednesday.

“It was a beautiful ball by Paul and Crash just ripped it,” Wasilla head coach Blake Livingston said of Sharrow’s shot that moved the Warriors into tonight’s semifinal match against West Anchorage.

As play wore into the final three minutes of the game, Sliwa sent a looping cross from the right corner to Sharrow, who with a swift right kick, hammered the ball into the net.

“I raised my hand right before the kick, he played a beautiful ball and I just finished,” Sharrow said.

Sharrow, a senior who last week was named first-team All-Northern Lights Conference for the third straight season, said he’s only been lucky enough to score a goal of that magnitude once. That came during a summer competitive soccer tournament in Idaho. But his shot on Wednesday was “absolutely” the biggest goal of his prep career.

“I’ve kicked so many of those over (the net) in the last four years,” Sharrow said. “It feels really good, finally, in the biggest game to finish like that.”

Sliwa not only set up the Sharrow goal with the corner kick, but he gave his team the opportunity to put together the game-winning score with a long, knuckling shot that Colony goalkeeper Elliott Gilbert had to slap away to make the save.

“Paul Sliwa has some of the greatest finesse I’ve ever seen, especially for a kid so young,” Sharrow said. “For a sophomore, he plays at an incredible level.”

Sliwa’s attempt was one of only a combined handful of shots by the Valley rivals, but when it came to shots on goal in the game, it was a matter of quality and not quantity.

“I don’t think either team had a lot of shots on goal, they just got the one that broke through, and there wasn’t enough time to do anything about it” Colony head coach Jeremy Johnson said. “We had some opportunities. (Wasilla goalkeeper Eli Tingstad) made some great saves, to his credit. We just didn’t finish the opportunities we had.”

Colony had back-to-back solid shots during the 27th minute. Tingstad was forced to make the tough save on a Dylan Crawford shot that was set up by a cross courtesy of Colony co-captain Chris Bardsley.

Seconds later, Tingstad stopped a Logan Smith shot at point blank range.

With 17 minutes left in regulation, Tingstad put his palms forward to keep Jess McKee’s hard shot from hitting the back of the net.

“Eli came up huge for us,” Livingston said.

Wasilla also had a few quality chances.

Late in the first half, with Gilbert out of the box, junior Aaron Richardson used a header to knock a Cameron Perry shot away from an empty net.

Early in the second, Gilbert left the box again, this time to challenge an Alex Solovyov breakaway. Gilbert made the save on the play, but drew the yellow card for his work in the collision between he and Solovyov.

The match marked the third in 12 days between the Valley rivals. Colony and Wasilla ended the regular season with a 1-1 tie two weeks ago at Wasilla High, and the Knights edged Wasilla 2-0 last week in the Northern Lights Conference Championships title match.

Livingston said the draw of the Knights was out of anyone’s control, but Wasilla knew what type of a match it would be.

“It seems like Colony’s been arguably the team to beat,” Livingston said. “We knew it would be a battle. It could have gone either way.”

With the win, Wasilla moves forward and is now one win away from a spot in the state title game for the first time in program history. The Warriors best finish came in 2003 when they placed third with a win over Colony.

The Knights had aspirations of earning their third appearance in the state championship game since Colony won the title in 2000, but now CHS will have to work its way through the backside of the bracket.

“It’s unfortunate it had to happen that way,” Livingston said. “One of the Valley teams is out (of the winner’s bracket.”

The Knights moved into the fourth place game with a 2-0 win over Northern Lights Conference rival Soldotna. Colony also placed fourth in 2002 and 2006.

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