South girls and Colony boys prevail in overtime to claim Division I state soccer championships

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South Anchorage coaches Brian and Lauren Lux erupt in celebration after their team scored a goal to tie in the final minutes of their championship game against Dimond at West Anchorage High School on Saturday, May 27, 2023. (Emily Mesner / ADN)

Both of the reigning Division I state soccer champions fell short of repeating on Saturday night as they were defeated by familiar foes in overtime.

The South Anchorage girls bested longtime rival Dimond for the second time this season to claim their first state title since 2018 and the Colony boys dispatched the South boys squad to secure its first title since 2019.

Each game was decided in overtime and both ended with the same 2-1 score.

In the girls game, it was senior captain Madison McDonald who delivered what would be the game-winning goal in the first half of the overtime period when she got the ball in stride and capitalized on a breakaway opportunity.

“I wanted it so bad,” she said as joyful tears streamed down her face. “It felt really good and I’m just so happy that we won.”

Dimond drew first blood with a first half goal from senior Tatum Porter and that narrow lead would hold until there was less than a minute left in extra time at the end of regulation.

“Every game against Dimond is a battle,” South head coach Lauren Lux said. “It’s two super quality teams, they know each other so well and credit to Dimond’s players and coaching staff. I think both teams pushed each other as hard as we could.”

Freshman Addysen Gasser waited to the best possible moment to score her first goal of the season when she finally got the ball into the back of the net.

“We were all feeling tired and starting to get down looking at the clock and seeing those two minutes (remaining),” McDonald said. “When she scored, it changed everything. We had a chance to come back, and we did.”

At the team’s last practice they did a bonding activity called “white lie T-shirt” where they wrote something on a blank shirt that they had yet to accomplish. Gasser’s was that she had yet to score in her first high school season.

“I told her ‘Hey if you go on that field, you score today and I’m going to yell no more white lie,’ ” Lux said. “She went through some illness this season, came back, found her stride again and gave great effort all game and had a great goal there.”

The state title was the first for her since taking over the program.

“To tie it up that late in the match and then get the win in overtime, that’s as exciting and nerve-wracking as it can get and why we love this game,” Lux said.

She and her husband Brian, who is the South boys head coach, had their first child in January. Lauren Lux stepped down from her full-time role as head coach to care for the newborn during the second half of the season but she never stepped away.

“Being a new parent is tough but at South it truly is a family here,” Lux said. “With my husband being able to fill in when I couldn’t be around the team as much (over) the last month and being able to be back at state is just so special.”

Thanks to help of her husband and other assistant coaches, she was able to still be a part of the Wolverines’ magical ride to a title.

“The players didn’t skip a beat,” Lux said. “They were thrown a curveball with a coaching change and all credit to them.”

For McDonald, it was the perfect way to bring her prep soccer career full circle after COVID-19 caused the cancellation of her freshman season. After that, she and her fellow seniors lost to the Lynx in the last two state finals.

“To be here now is like three years in the making and it feels really good,” she said. “It was my last year to make this happen and this whole season, that was the goal.”

Knights use golden goal to cap off a dominant weekend for Colony athletics

The Division I boys game went into double overtime and remained scoreless until there were about six minutes left in the first half of the first extra period.

Senior David Elliott scored the first goal of the game and his momentum was so strong that he followed the ball into the back of the net, knocking it out of place in the process.

South kept their hopes of potentially sweeping both of the Division I soccer titles after they managed to tie the game 1-1 on a free kick in the extra period from junior Jack Hickox.

“It was tough giving up that really late goal and what we did was pull the team in right before (the second) overtime and said ‘We’re back to 0-0,’ ” Colony head coach Jeremy Johnson said.

It didn’t take nearly as long for the game-winner to be scored as Colony senior Zac Cheyette found the back of the net less than two minutes into the first half of the second overtime period.

“I just happened to be there at the right moment at the right time and I still can’t wrap my head around it,” he said.

The win marked the fourth state title in program history and followed a similar script to the second in which the Knights won on a golden goal, in essence a sudden-death game-winner.

“We won in 2014 on a golden goal and I said if we’re ever going to win a state championship, a golden goal is the best because when the ball goes into the back of the net, it’s over,” Johnson said. “I’m thrilled beyond belief.”

Colony’s boys soccer team wasn’t the only Knights squad to emerge victorious over the weekend. The Colony boys track and field team also claimed a Division I state title and there were some players that participated in both and were crowned champions twice in the same day.

The 2022-2023 school year has already been tremendously successful for Colony athletics. The Knights won a state championships in cross country. Cheyette was a part of that after finishing in second place flanked by two of his teammates in first and third.

“We were the first ever teammates to finish first, second, and third in Division I,” he said. “We swept the podium in that. Running is a little different, you’re not going head-to-head with teams but I had that confidence of knowing I could win a state championship with my friends.”

The Knights also won their ever state championship in football in the fall of which there is some crossover with the soccer team as well.

“Cody Peterson was the starting kicker on the football team and David (Elliott) is on the track team as well,” Johnson said.

Cheyette was on the Knights’ junior varsity team as an eighth grader when the program last won state in 2019 and envisioned himself accomplishing the same feat some day.

“I watched varsity win the state championship and said ‘That’s going to be me,’ ” he said.

Division I girls soccer state tournament

First round

Thursday

No. 6 West Valley 6, No. 3 Chugiak 0

No. 1 Dimond 3, No. 8 West 0

No. 2 South 6, No. 7 Wasilla 0

No. 5 Lathrop 2, No. 4 Service 1

Friday

Consolation

Service 2, West 0

Wasilla 3, Chugiak 1

Semifinals

Dimond 3, Lathrop 0

South 3, West Valley 0

Saturday

4th/6th place, Service 5, Wasilla 0

3rd/5th place, West Valley 2, Lathrop 1

Championship, South 2, Dimond 1 (OT)

Division I boys soccer state tournament

First round

Thursday

No. 3 West Valley 2, No. 6 Lathrop 0

No. 1 Colony 4, No. 8 Chugiak 0

No. 2 South 3, No. 7 Dimond 0

No. 5 West 3, No. 4 Service 1

Friday

Consolation

Service 2, Chugiak 0

Lathrop 5, Dimond 2

Semifinals

Colony 3, West 2 (OT)

South 1, West Valley 0 (OT)

Saturday

4th/6th place, Lathrop 3, Service 2

3rd/5th place, West Valley 1, West 0

Championship, Colony 2, South 1 (OT)