Denied the chance to compete at the state level in football and basketball, high school athletes from Juneau made the most of their chances Saturday at the state soccer championships.
Teams from Juneau pulled off a sweep of the Division II state championship matches at Service High, and for good measure, they also swept the third-place games.
Thunder Mountain captured its first state title in soccer by edging Soldotna 3-2 in the boys championship game.
In the girls title match, Juneau-Douglas romped past Soldotna 5-1 for their third consecutive state championship. Division II was created for soccer in 2018, and the Crimson Bears are the only team to win a girls title — the 2020 championships were canceled because of COVID-19.
In the third-place games, victories went to the Juneau boys, 3-0 over defending state champion Kenai, and the Thunder Mountain girls, 2-0 over Homer.
Because of the pandemic, Juneau high schools were not allowed to travel to the state football playoffs or the state basketball tournaments. The schools were able to compete in last week’s state wrestling championships and are due to compete in next week’s state baseball and softball tournaments.
ASAA/First National Bank state soccer championships
Division II boys
Saturday’s results
Championship — Thunder Mountain 3, Soldotna 2
Third place — Juneau 3, Kenai 0
Fourth place — North Pole 2, Grace Christian 1
All-tournament team
Oscar Queen, North Pole
Leif Lofquist, Kenai
Jose Montague, Soldotna
Logan Miller, Thunder Mountain
Wallace Adams, Thunder Mountain
Josh Hieber, Soldotna
Talon Briggs, Thunder Mountain
Samuel Holst, Juneau
Aiden Willets, Soldotna
Gavin Gende, Thunder Mountain
Andrew Beveridge, Grace Christian
Division II girls
Saturday’s results
Championship — Juneau-Douglas 5, Soldotna 1
Third place — Thunder Mountain 2, Homer 0
Fourth place — North Pole 4, Redington 1
All-tournament team
Blake Plummer, Juneau
Rhys Cannava, Soldotna
Desiree Dutra, North Pole
Taylor Bentley, Juneau
Elizabeth Knapp, Thunder Mountain
Katharine Bramante, Soldotna
Sophia Pugh, Juneau
Sela Weisser, Homer
Kiah Dihle, Thunder Mountain
Haley Stoker, Redington
Jasmine Holst, Juneau
Sunny Miller, Soldotna