AOTW: Soldotna’s Arthur scores hat trick in state soccer final after being drafted to junior hockey
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - The Soldotna boys soccer program won its first state championship Saturday on the back, foot and head of Andrew Arthur.
The senior put in a header in the 15th minute of the state final versus Juneau-Douglas before closing out the first half with a breakaway goal to put the Stars up 3-1. For the dagger, Arthur outpaced the Crimson Bears defense to set himself free to bury his third goal of the game and complete the hat trick as the Stars soared to their first state title.
”Some of those finishes were so cool, calm and composed,” Stars head coach Erik Dolphin said of Arthur. “The hardest thing to do in soccer is put the ball in the back of the net so to come in the state final and have a hat trick is pretty special.”
Arthur, who Dolphin says leads all of Division II in scoring with nearly 30 goals, was named Player of the Game after his stellar performance.
”I was confident the whole time, I’m like, ‘I am not nervous,’” Arthur said of his mindset before the championship game. “I wanted to come in confident, and I was like, might as well get a hat trick, I guess I did... it was fun.”
When he is not scoring on the pitch, he is scoring on the ice. Arthur, a captain and defenseman for the SoHi hockey team, was drafted in the 1st round, 21st overall in the NA3HL draft to the Sheridan Hawks at the end of April.
”I always grew up playing soccer and then I got introduced to hockey and soccer has been my conditioning for hockey and so now I just go to hockey, I love it.” Arthur, who was a staple on Soldotna’s 2023 State Championship hockey team.
Trading in his cleats for skate next year in junior hockey, Arthur played his final game on the pitch, but what a way to go out — three goals, Player of the Game and lifting his team to their first state championship.
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