Anchorage Daily News

Chugiak High School's standout forward Alev Kelter has been named the 2007-08 Gatorade Alaska Girls Soccer Player of the Year.

An All-America selection by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America, Kelter has piled up 36 goals and 11 assists in her career. None was more important than her goal that tied the state championship game against South a year ago. Chugiak prevailed 2-1 in an penalty kick shootout after two overtimes to win the state title.

"She's big, and she uses her body," Dan Ruffner, the Service High head coach who also coaches in the United States Youth Soccer Olympic Development Program, said in a press release. "She brings hockey to the game. She elevates the skill level everybody around her. That's what made Chugiak so great last year."

Also an outstanding hockey player, Kelter is a member of the United States Women's Ice Hockey Under-18 National Team that won a gold medal in the 2008 world championships. She has maintained a 3.36 GPA in the classroom and is a member of Chugiak's student government and the St. Andrew's Church youth ministry in Eagle River.

Kelter, a 5-foot-6 junior, is a two-time first team all-state selection and a member of the U.S. Soccer Federation Under-16 National Team.

A hard-charging junior with fiery red hair, Kelter helped Chugiak control much of the action against South in last year's title game. Still, the Mustangs trailed until Kelter raced down the left side of the field and beat South keeper Lara Campbell with a hard shot that just trickled in over the goal line.

"It's amazing," she said afterward. "I can't even explain to you how much it was a team effort."

The Gatorade program recognizes one winner in each of the 50 states that sanction high school football, girls volleyball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, baseball, softball, and boys and girls track and field. The selection process is administered by RISE Magazine, which works with sport-specific experts and a media advisory board of accomplished, veteran prep sports journalists to determine the state winners in each sport.

Recent Gatorade players of the year in girls soccer include:

- Carly Butcher of South in 2007

- Jessica Post of Juneau-Douglas in 2006

- Katlyn Miller of Service in 2005

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