Boys Soccer: Billy's Hat Trick Paces Bonney Lake Over Sumner

The Sumner boys soccer team has not allowed a goal off a corner kick all season. Bonney Lake does not practice corner kicks.

On Friday night, both teams looked as if the opposite was true, as Bonney Lake scored four times on corner kicks - three by Jordan Billy - in a 4-1 win at Sunset Stadium in Sumner.

"We don't even practice them," Bonney Lake head coach Randal Jones said about the corner kicks. "We only have an hour and a half of practice, so we just work on the flow of the game."

There was not much of a flow on Friday, but the Panthers (7-1-2, 2-1-1 SPSL 3A) utilized the imposing presence of Billy to quickly take control. Billy scored on a header off a corner by Tim Knowles in the 13th minute for his first score, followed later in the first half on another header off an almost identical play. After James Glavin added another goal off a corner kick in the 56th minute, Billy completed his hat trick with a finish in the 66th minute off yet another corner.

"He has scored with every part of his body," Jones said. "I've seen him seriously just run the ball in. He just has a great build, a great knack for scoring."

Billy had plenty of opportunities in a game where Bonney Lake came out dominating the possession. The Panthers fired nine shots on goal in the first half and rarely allowed Sumner to put together a string of more than three passes in a row.

"I would say our guys started nervous," Sumner head coach Peter Voiles said. "They know Bonney Lake's a good team, so I think they were very conservative. That was the biggest issue."

The Spartans played a different game in the second half, controlling the ball more and making a number of runs into the box in front of its large and vocal fan contingent that included a trio of halftime streakers. But the Panther continued their assault on corner kicks to run away with the game. Sumner broke up the shutout with a 79th minute goal.

"When we actually came out in the second, making some adjustments...maybe if we were just a little more patient in what we were doing, a little more patient in defending [the outcome would have been different," Voiles said. 

The win was the third this week for Bonney Lake, which has outscored its last three opponents by a combined score of 14-2. The Panthers look to be hitting their stride approaching the midway point of the season.

"I think we're in good shape," Jones said. "We've got a lot of weapons and we're still growing and we need to continue to grow all the way through to the end."