The Homer and Kenai girls and boys soccer teams won first-round matches at Soccerfest on Thursday, with the boys tourney at Houston and girls tournament at Redington.
The Kenai girls got a shutout from Maddie Malone in winning 5-0 over Palmer and moving to 4-1-1 overall. The Kardinals play Houston at 2 p.m. Friday in the semifinal.
Kenai scored just 30 seconds in when passing from Kylee Verkuilen, Brynnen Hanson and Katie Johnson set up a goal by Tait Cooper. At six minutes, Kate Wisnewski scored on a volley from 20 yards, while at 17 minutes Wisnewski passed to Hanson, who found Sarah Baisden for a goal. At 25 minutes, Baisden crossed to Savannah Hershberger for a goal while at 36 minutes Baisden fed Hanson for a goal. Kenai coach Dan Verkuilen said his team spent the second half working on one- and two-touch passes.
The Kenai boys won 4-0 over Thunder Mountain, moving to 3-2-0 overall and to a semifinal with Kodiak at 2 p.m.
Bradley Morrison had the clean sheet, while Sawyer Vann had two goals and Trae Pitsch and Ricky Mercado added tallies. Mercado, Aloshia Cross and Miles Metteer had assists. Kenai coach Shane Lopez said good ball movement through the midfield put pressure on the Falcons.
The Homer girls beat Nikiski 7-0, with Homer moving to 3-1-1 overall and Nikiski falling to 0-4-0 overall. Homer plays Thunder Mountain in the semis at 6 p.m., while Nikiski plays Kodiak in the consolation bracket at 4 p.m.
Ruby Hill had four goals for the Mariners, while Katelyn Marroquin had three. Talia Weisser had two assists, while Regan Baker, Ruby Hill, Marroquin and Channing Lowney added assists.
The Homer boys beat Colony JV 10-0 to move to 3-1-0 overall, and into a semifinal against Houston at 6 p.m. Walden Kraszeski and Ellis Lorentz shared the clean sheet. The Mariners led 7-0 after the first half, with Kaiden Bogie scoring twice, plus Reid Rauch, Brady Shealy, Rocco Flora and Michael Reutov adding goals. Colony also had an own goal.
The second half saw Rauch, Lucas Story and Nathan Overson score.
The Nikiski boys lost 3-2 to Houston and will play Colony JV at 4 p.m. The Bulldogs are 0-4-0. Dylan Hall and Kazu Yukawa scored for Nikiski.
Soldotna girls 4, Grace Christian 0
The visiting Stars moved to 3-0-0 overall with the nonconference victory.
Ryan Queen had the shutout. The goals came from Emily O’Reagan on assists from Morgan Lemm and Sadie Lane, Jillian Duncan on an assist from Teagen Kobylarz, Bay Bloom and Kaytlin McAnelly.
Soldotna boys 8, Grace Christian 0
The visiting Stars moved to 3-0-0 overall with the nonconference victory and shutout from Luke Hillyer.
Andrew Arthur started the game with two goals on assists from Nunuo Venturi, then Venturi scored on an assist from Lane Hillyer. In the 30th minute, Arthur completed a hat trick with help from Daniel Heath.
SoHi finished with goals from Simon Willets, Heath on a penalty kick, Heath on a Jace O’Reagan assist and James Alden on a Brody Linton assist.
