Thanks to the luck of the draw, at least one girls' soccer team from outside Anchorage will play for the state high school championship Saturday.
First-round pairings were determined by random draw, and as luck would have it, all three Anchorage teams wound up on the same side of the bracket.
That means there won't be an all-Anchorage finale this year, something that's happened 10 times in the 15 years since the Alaska School Activities Association began holding a state tournament.
Action for boys and girls begins Thursday at Bartlett and Eagle River.
The three girls teams from Anchorage -- South, Service and Dimond -- are joined by Soldotna on one side of the girls' eight-team bracket. On the other side are Juneau, Kenai, Wasilla and West Valley. Last year, South beat Service 1-0 in the title game.
The random draw for first-round matchups -- a process in place since 2012 -- resulted in three matches between conference opponents.
On the girls side, defending champion South will meet Dimond in a game between Cook Inlet Conference teams.
On the boys side, CIC foes Bartlett and Dimond will meet in one match and Northern Lights Conference opponents Homer and Kenai will meet in another.
Colony, the defending champion among boys, will begin its title defense with a match against South. In last year's title match, the Knights beat Dimond 3-2 in sudden death.
Championship matches are scheduled for Saturday at Bartlett, with the girls playing at 3:15 p.m. and the boys at 6 p.m.
ASAA/First National Bank
State soccer championships
Thursday's matches
Girls
1 p.m. – Juneau vs. Kenai, Eagle River
1 p.m. – Soldotna vs. Service, Bartlett
5 p.m. – Wasilla vs. West Valley, Eagle River
5 p.m. – South vs. Dimond, Bartlett
Boys
3 p.m. – Homer vs. Kenai, Bartlett
3 p.m. – Juneau vs. West Valley, Eagle River
7 p.m. – Bartlett vs. Dimond, Bartlett
7 p.m. – South vs. Colony, Eagle River