For the second year in a row, the South Anchorage High girls soccer team capped off an undefeated season with a Division I state championship, and team captain Addysen Gasser was named the 2025-26 Alaska Gatorade Player of the Year, following her former teammate Lexi Luff, who won the award in 2025, according to the Anchorage Daily News.

Girls Soccer Boom Across Alaska
Girls Soccer Boom Across Alaska

The recognition marks the latest milestone for a program, and a sport, that has expanded across Alaska in recent years, with high school teams, club organizations and youth academies reporting growth in participation, titles and college opportunities for female athletes statewide.

Girls soccer team celebrating together in a huddle after a championship win
Girls soccer team celebrating together in a huddle after a championship win

South Anchorage’s Championship Run

South Anchorage finished the 2025 season 16-0-1, with its only tie coming in the first game against Dimond, and the team outscored its opponents by a combined 11-0 across the state tournament, the Anchorage Daily News reported. South Anchorage defeated Dimond in the championship match to claim the Division I title, extending a run of dominance in the state’s largest classification.

Division II Title Goes to Palmer

In the 2026 Division II girls state soccer tournament, Palmer defeated Kenai Central 3-1 to win the championship, with new team member Korinko — whose family had recently moved back to Alaska from California — scoring both goals, according to the Anchorage Daily News. The win gave Palmer its Division II crown for the season, adding to the list of Alaska programs producing state champions in girls soccer.

Interior of a modern indoor soccer training facility with professional setup
Interior of a modern indoor soccer training facility with professional setup

College Signings Highlight Club Development

Twelve girls from Alaska’s Cook Inlet Soccer Club, who spent years training together at an indoor facility called The Dome, signed to play soccer at the collegiate level, according to Alaska’s News Source. The club has become the first Alaska team to win the National League Pro Wildcard Division and is a two-time USYS Northwest conference champion, the outlet reported, underscoring the pipeline the club has built between youth training and college rosters.

Statewide Infrastructure and Access

The Alaska Youth Soccer Association describes its mission as using a proactive approach to full inclusion and year-round play, giving players of all ages and skill levels access to a range of programs and leagues despite the state’s geographical and weather-related challenges, according to the organization’s website. That mission extends beyond Anchorage’s population centers into Alaska’s Interior and other regions of the state.

In Fairbanks, the Fairbanks Soccer Club’s women’s team finished a season first in the standings with a 5-0-1 record to capture the championship, reflecting organized women’s club soccer activity in Alaska’s Interior region, according to the Fairbanks Soccer Club. The club describes itself as Fairbanks’ first professional development soccer club.

Alaskan high school soccer field with mountains and forests visible from above
Alaskan high school soccer field with mountains and forests visible from above

Youth development pathways are also expanding through club academies. Alaska Rush Soccer Club runs a Pre-Comp Academy aimed at players born between 2018 and 2020 to bridge the gap between recreational and competitive soccer, along with a Pre-Comp level for players born between 2016 and 2018 that includes dedicated girls’ training sessions, according to the club’s website. The structure is designed to move young players from introductory programs toward more competitive levels of play.

Geographic Reach Across the State

Alaska’s high school soccer scene is documented across dozens of schools statewide, from Anchorage-area powerhouses like South Anchorage and Dimond to rural and regional schools such as Barrow, Kotzebue, Kodiak, Nome-Beltz and Unalaska, according to MaxPreps. The spread of programs indicates girls soccer participation extends well beyond the state’s largest cities into rural and coastal communities.

Portrait of a confident young female soccer player holding a ball
Portrait of a confident young female soccer player holding a ball

Building Opportunities Beyond the Field

The push for opportunity-building among Alaska’s female athletes is not limited to soccer. East High School girls’ basketball coach Dorena Bingham was recognized for having led her teams to multiple state championships while also providing opportunities for female athletes to play in the Lower 48 each summer, giving them exposure to colleges that helped them earn scholarships, according to the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame. The recognition illustrates a broader pattern across Alaska sports of coaches and organizations working to connect female athletes with opportunities beyond the state.

Together, the results from South Anchorage and Palmer, the college signings out of the Cook Inlet Soccer Club, and the youth infrastructure maintained by organizations such as the Alaska Youth Soccer Association, Fairbanks Soccer Club and Alaska Rush point to a period of expansion for girls and women’s soccer across the state, spanning championship results, college recruitment and grassroots development programs.

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