Soldotna boys, Kenai Central girls snare DII state soccer titles

WASILLA — Andrew Arthur has been scoring goals in bunches on season for the Soldtona boys soccer team.

That didn’t stop in Saturday’s Alaska Division II state title game at Wasilla High.

Arthur, a senior, tallied three goals as the Stars defeated Juneau-Douglas 4-1 to win their first Alaska Division II boys state soccer title.

Despite his prolific scoring touch this season, Arthur expected to have a tougher time against Juneau-Douglas, which had won the last two state titles.

“It was good. I wasn’t really expecting it,” he said. “I’ve been getting hat tricks all season, so I had that mentality — ‘Why not? I’ll try my hardest.’”

Despite Arthur’s heroics, he and head coach Erik Dolphin said the team effort throughout the season allowed the team to earn the title.

“It feels really good,” Dolphin said. “We’ve been unbeaten the whole season. We had a special group of guys that came together and it’s been a heck of a ride.”

His first goal was converted on a header on a feed from teammate Lane Hillyer. Arthur scored again on a breakaway in the first half. Add a goal from Soldotna’s Nuno Venturi and the Stars had a commanding 3-0 lead late in the first half.

But Juneau-Douglas got on the board late, as Ryan Thibodeau scored in the final couple of minutes of the half.

Despite losing last year’s title to the Crimson Bears, Soldotna returned nearly the entire team with just one graduating senior departing. That gave the Stars confidence heading into the matchup.

“They’re a good team and could come back easily,” he said. “We still had to lock down on defense and get pressure with our forwards.”

Arthur struck again to convert the only goal of the second half for a hat trick. He said he’s converted a hat trick in all but three of four of the team’s games all season.

Dolphin, who also coaches middle school soccer, has been coaching the group of seniors for six years. And while Juneau-Douglas has established the model for consistent success at Division II, he believes he’s installing a similar brand of soccer at Soldotna.

“That is a heck of a program and (Juneau coach) Gary (Lehnhart) is one of the best coaches in the state and has been for a long time,” Dolphin said. “I know whoever he puts on the field are going to be ready to play but I knew the guys we had as well.”

Kenai Central tops Juneau-Douglas 2-0

The Kenai Central girls soccer team had a short but direct to-do list entering the 2024 Alaska Division II girls soccer tournament.

Win a state title was at the top of that list. But to achieve that goal they had to go through a Soldotna team that shocked the Kardinals in last year’s state title. And then they’d have to topple top seed Juneau-Douglas.

The Kardinals checked each goal of the list this weekend, topping the Crimson Bears 2-0 to win the state title.

The win was a bit of retribution for the Kardinals, who were unbeaten before falling to Soldtona.

“I’m proud of this team,” Kenai junior Kate Wisnewski said. “SoHi has beat us, we hadn’t seen Juneau this year so it was just a crazy experience to be in this moment with these girls. Some of these seniors, it’s their last year so it just felt great to put it all out there and win.”

Kylee Verkuilen opened the scoring for Kenai in the opening half. Wisnewski said the goal gave the team breathing room.

“It definitely changed the momentum,” she said. “Once you get that first goal, you’re like ‘Wow, we can do it.’”

In the second half, Katie Johnson made it 2-0 with a goal. The sophomore went to her right and scored with a shot in the upper right-hand corner.