Soldotna soccer sweeps Nikiski

The Soldotna girls and boys soccer teams swept Nikiski on Wednesday in Peninsula Conference action at Justin Maile Field at Soldotna High School.

The girls notched a 7-1 victory to move to 2-1-0 in the league and 5-3-0 overall, while the Bulldogs dropped to 0-3-0 and 2-4-0. The boys won 11-1 to move to 2-0-1 and 5-2-1 and drop Nikiski to 0-3-0 and 0-4-0.

The Soldotna girls jumped to a 5-0 lead after the first half.

Seven minutes in, Jazzalynn McDonald scored on assists from Bay Bloom and Morgan Lemm. Just two minutes later, Bloom scored with help from Lemm.

In the 20th minute, Bloom scored from Zayra Poage and Lemm, then a little over a minute later Lemm scored unassisted. Liberty Miller then hit a long direct kick with three minutes left in the half.

Soldotna was able to have success on corner kicks and direct kicks in the game.

“On corner kicks, I thought it was great,” SoHi coach Jimmy Love said. “We work on those more than a lot of teams do because I’ve seen a lot of missed goals, a lot of missed opportunities.”

Love said the Stars don’t work on direct kicks much, but gave credit to Miller for being a smart player and taking the opportunity.

In the 47th minute, Sadie Lane made it 6-0 with a booming shot from 35 yards out.

Nikiski got on the board in the 68th minute, when Avery White cracked a direct kick from just outside the box into the upper right corner. The Bulldogs have now scored in every game except one.

“We’re just trying to get better every game and make sure we’re pushing toward some kind of a goal,” Nikiski coach Angie Coelho said. “Our goal today was to score because our last game against Homer was the first game we didn’t score.”

In the 80th minute, SoHi hit on another corner kick, with Miller connecting with Poage.

Love said the Nikiski girls are an improving team, and the coach expects the Bulldogs to stay strong with some young players coming up.

“That being said, I don’t know where we were,” Love said. “They got a couple of nice goals right off the bat, but then we decided to not finish the game.”

The coach was happy with the way center defender Kendra Rose finished the game. In the last 13 minutes, Rose was on the back line with three freshman and was able to hold the fort against a dangerous Nikiski attack.

Coelho gave credit to Savanna Stock for leading that attack. The coach also said goalie Emma Weeks was a big reason the Bulldogs were able to improve on a 14-1 loss to SoHi on April 20.

“We cut it down by half, so I’m very proud of that,” Coelho said. “Those corner kicks get us no matter who we play. We just need to square up our defense on corner kicks.”

The Soldotna boys took a 6-0 lead at the half in taking down the Bulldogs, who were playing with just nine players.

For the game, Andrew Arthur had two goals, Lane Hillyer had two goals, Luke Hillyer had two goals, Gehret Medcoff had a goal, Tim Karner had a goal, Harold Rudstrom had a goal, Samuel Strouse had a goal and Simon Willets had a goal.

The big news for the Bulldogs came in the 69th minute when Niles Broussard laced a shot into the upper right corner.

After not scoring last season, it was the first goal for the Bulldogs this season.

“It was an amazing finish,” SoHi coach Erik Dolphin said. “I don’t think he could do it again if he wanted to.

“It hit both bars and was in. It was a heck of a finish.”

Nikiski coach Horst Haunold gave credit to his team for continuing to work hard despite being short-handed.

“It’s an achievement,” Haunold said of the Broussard strike. “We’ve only got nine players again. We’re learning still.”

Dolphin was happy his team took care of business and got the conference win. He said Lane Hillyer, Daniel Heath, Zac Buckbee and Willets provided their usual steady play through the midfield.