The Soldotna girls and boys soccer teams notched a sweep of host Nikiski on Monday, with the girls winning 1-0 and the boys winning due to forfeit.
In the girls game, the Bulldogs were able to keep the Stars off the board for just over 60 minutes, when Abi Tuttle scored the only goal of the game.
“We could not finish,” Soldotna coach Jimmy Love said. “Their keeper had three or four solid saves, and there were two or three off the post.
“When things are going your way, they’re really going your way, not to say she didn’t play an outstanding game, because she did play an outstanding game.”
Nikiski coach Linda Zimmerman said that goalie Brianna Vollertsen made 26 saves. Zimmerman said that she is looking for improvement out of her players, and definitely saw that Monday.
“She has improved by leaps and bounds,” the coach said of Vollersten. “The whole team has improved as well. They’re playing better defense, and that’s not just the girls in the back. That’s the girls up front and in the midfield — the whole team is playing better defense.”
The Stars, who moved to 7-6 overall and 3-1 in the division, received a shutout in net from Ella Stenga. Love said he did not record a save for Stenga, although the Bulldogs had several situations that were dangerous.
“When it’s 0-0, one little bad bounce or miscommunication and the ball is in the back of your net, not theirs,” Love said.
The Bulldogs are 0-2 in the division, but with home games this week against Homer and Kodiak, Nikiski has a chance to move up the standings.
“They had such a positive vibe,” Zimmerman said. “They were just on cloud nine. They were just very happy with themselves and proud of each other.”
Soldotna boys defeat Nikiski by forfeit
The Nikiski boys had to forfeit their Northern Lights Conference Southern Division game to Soldotna when the Bulldogs did not have enough players to play.
The Stars move to 6-7 overall and 2-2 in the division, while Nikiski falls to 0-9, including forfeits, and 0-2.
The two sides put together a scrimmage instead during which some Soldotna players sided with Nikiski. The Stars won that scrimmage 6-2.
Eli Sheridan and Addison Downing scored in the first half for Soldotna.
In the second half, the Stars went up 3-0 when Ben Godfrey scored, but Nikiski’s side cut it too 3-2 on goals from Saun McMullen and Ben Snow, who both actually play for Soldotna. But the Stars quickly ran away from Nikiski, getting two goals from Alex Montague and another goal from Ethan Bott.
“We definitely want to keep the Nikiski program going,” Soldotna coach Darryl Byerley said. “We’ll do anything we can to help the kids enjoy it and come back next year.”
Nikiski coach Harrison Deveer said his players kept commenting during the scrimmage how weird it felt to have substitutes. Deveer said defender George Napoka stood out in the scrimmage by being all over the place on defense.
Nikiski’s George Napoka and Soldotna’s Eli Sheridan battle for the ball Monday, May 18, 2017, at Nikiski High School. (Photo by Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)
