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The Cook Inlet Soccer Club U17 girls team celebrates after winning a national championship in Tennessee on Monday, July 20, 2026. (Photo provided by Cook Inlet Soccer Club) <\/p>\nThe Cook Inlet Soccer Club U17 girls team celebrates after winning a national championship in Tennessee on Monday, July 20, 2026. (Photo provided by Cook Inlet Soccer Club) <\/p>\n
This summer has been historic for Alaska\u2019s youth<\/a> across multiple sports<\/a>, and that trend continued Monday when the Cook Inlet Soccer Club U17 girls team became the state\u2019s first to win a U.S. Youth Soccer national championship.<\/p>\n \u201cWinning a national championship with this team means everything to me,\u201d team captain Brooklyn Shankar said. \u201cWe\u2019ve grown up playing together for so many years, and all the hard work, early mornings, and sacrifices finally paid off. Being able to make Alaska history alongside some of my best friends is something I\u2019ll always be proud of.\u201d<\/p>\n The team spent a little over a week in Murfreesboro and Smyrna, Tennessee, plowing through their division, and they prevailed 3-2 over a team from Washington in the finals.<\/p>\n \u201cThat team\u2019s been special since I started coaching them back when they were U8,\u201d head coach Rich Bailey said. \u201cI could just tell. We used to call that team the little ninjas because of just their intensity and focus and killer instinct, and as they\u2019ve grown, we\u2019ve just continued to add like-minded players and develop like-minded players.\u201d<\/p>\n Last year, even though this same group fell short of advancing to the finals in Florida, they still made history as Alaska\u2019s first to make it out of group play and into the knockout round.<\/p>\n In the 2025 semifinals, they had a 1-0 lead in the second half with about 10 minutes left to play but wilted in the heat and humidity and didn\u2019t have the numbers or stamina to go the distance.<\/p>\n \u201cWe travel with a small roster, so if the teams show up with a roster of 18, we show up with a roster of 14, and with some of the sub restrictions and stuff like that, like, kids can\u2019t re-enter in a half,\u201d Bailey said.<\/p>\n The squad of girls born in 2009 or later was \u201csuper motivated\u201d to finish what they started and redeem themselves after last year\u2019s shortcomings, and they were better prepared to battle the climate in Tennessee this time around.<\/p>\n \u201cKind of all the same challenges, but another year of battle scars and battle-tested, and they were ready for it,\u201d Bailey said. <\/p>\n The team won all six games, including a complete sweep of their group stage, and overcame a scheduling disadvantage because their opponent from Washington ended up with a forfeit. <\/p>\n \u201cWe were on our sixth game in eight days, and they were on their fifth game in eight days, which is a pretty incredible advantage when you\u2019re playing at that location for that many minutes and that many games,\u201d Bailey said.<\/p>\n That didn\u2019t stop the team from getting off to another strong start, as they drew first blood with a goal in the first 10 minutes. And when the heat re-emerged as a challenge, they were better equipped this time around.<\/p>\n \u201cI slowly saw us starting to wilt a little bit again in that heat,\u201d Bailey said. \u201cWe bring Dr. Joel Atkins from Atkins Chiropractic down. He donates his time and comes down to help hydrate and keep our teams fit because it\u2019s so grueling.\u201d<\/p>\n Another element working in their favor was the difference in the tournament\u2019s substitution restrictions with limited re-entry rules.<\/p>\n The Washington team managed to tie the game at 1-1 heading into halftime and still had the momentum to open the second half, taking a 2-1 lead. But Alaska went back on attack in the final minutes and pulled off the rally, tying the game late to force extra time.<\/p>\n Just minutes into extra time, the Alaska team struck, taking the final lead. <\/p>\n \u201cI remember the ball bouncing through, finding Brooklyn Shankar, and she finds Jesenia Cortez, and she turns and parks one in the net for us for the game-winner, probably about a minute and a half before time ran out,\u201d Bailey said. \u201cI\u2019ll never forget that 10 minutes of soccer.\u201d<\/p>\n Alaskans won all three tournament awards for the U17 division. Mikenna Keirn received the Golden Glove for best goaltender, Grace Cox got the Golden Boot for top scorer after notching nine goals, and Darby D\u2019Amico was the Golden Ball recipient, which is given to the most outstanding player.<\/p>\n Over the decade they\u2019ve been playing together, the \u201909 girls traveled together out of state for competitions more than 40 times. Those long flights and countless hours spent in airports and honing their craft on and off the pitch built the bond that forged them into champions.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re battle-tested, and they know how to win games,\u201d Bailey said. \u201cIt takes a while to learn how to do it, but once we got (the lead back), I knew we were going to win.\u201d <\/p>\n In his eyes, the mindset, focus, discipline and overall demeanor of this year\u2019s team made the difference.<\/p>\n \u201cThe girls are older, wiser, and we went into a compact shape, changed our formation right away as soon as we had the lead, and then the girls just started playing very, very smart,\u201d Bailey said.<\/p>\n The award-winning trio is a part of a large contingent of rising seniors on the team who also play for South Anchorage High School, home of the two-time defending Division I state champions.<\/p>\n The non-Wolverines players on the team include one from Juneau, who has been on the team the past 2 1\/2 years; two from the Matanuska-Susitna Borough who have been on the team for the past eight years; and a couple from the Chugiak-Eagle River area.<\/p>\n \u201cIt just takes a lot of commitment,\u201d Bailey said. \u201cWhen I first started this team, I wanted to make sure that I had an environment that had like-minded athletes, that was competitive in trying to win out of state, and I knew we\u2019d win in-state if we could win out of state.\u201d<\/p>\n Achieving this kind of success requires a commitment from the parents as well as student-athletes. Their investment of time and resources can reach tens of thousands of dollars for their daughters to have the opportunity to chase their dreams.<\/p>\n Playing on the top CISC teams has translated into further competition. The team of players born in or after 2007 had 25 of 27 sign on to compete at the collegiate level. Bailey expects a similar ratio from this team.<\/p>\n Up next for this illustrious bunch is state cup play in the next couple of weeks, where they will be looking to claim their eighth straight Alaska championship at the club level.<\/p>\n But the road to the national title will hold a special place for the players.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not just about the championship itself \u2014 it\u2019s about the relationships we\u2019ve built, the memories we\u2019ve made, and representing our community,” Shankar said. \u201cI know this is something we\u2019ll remember for the rest of our lives, and I\u2019m incredibly grateful to have shared it with this group of teammates and coaches.\u201d<\/p>\n Shankar is also a rising senior from South, and both she and her teammates wanted to check off this milestone heading into their senior year as a gift to Bailey for all he has done for them over the years.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s wanted this just as much as all of us, and I\u2019m so glad we could make it happen for him,\u201d D\u2019Amico said. \u201cHe\u2019s helped us grow and become the players and people we are today.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Cook Inlet Soccer Club U17 girls team celebrates after winning a national championship in Tennessee on Monday,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":825911,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,288577,561,82],"class_list":["post-825910","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cook-inlet-soccer-club","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/825910","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=825910"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/825910\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/825911"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=825910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=825910"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=825910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/UZKJXQOFTJHWNMOWG2N5O4QNYY.jpg\")
The Cook Inlet Soccer Club U17 girls team won a national championship in Tennessee on Monday, July 20, 2026. (Photo provided by Cook Inlet Soccer Club) Detailing the process <\/p>\n