TOUGH DRAW

PALMER — The Juneau-Douglas boys and girls soccer programs have combined to make a dozen appearances in a state title match in the last 11 seasons. The Crimson Bears boys and girls have also been nearly unbeatable in the state tournament quarterfinals, dropping just one match in the first round since 2002.

The combination of those soccer stats could lead to immediate chest pains for Juneau’s first-round draws. But the head coaches of the Colony Knights boys and girls programs aren’t locked in a panic attack. Jeremy Johnson, head coach of the Colony boys, is excited. Colony girls coach Lorie Miner is actually relieved.

Clearly, both are not ones to dwell on the past.

“I like where we sit,” Miner said Monday. “We have a good opportunity to advance, a good chance to go further.”

Miner’s seventh-seeded Knights will face second-seeded Juneau Thursday at 11 a.m. at Dimond High School in Anchorage in the first round of the 2011 ASAA/First National Bank 4A State Championships.

“I’m excited to play them,” Miner said.

The Knights finished as the runners-up in the Northern Lights Conference following a 3-0 loss to Soldotna in the NLC title match last Saturday. Miner said she believes Soldotna received the tougher draw. The fourth-seeded Stars meet fifth-seeded Dimond in the first round. Eighth-seeded Wasilla, which meets top-seeded Chugiak, also shares the top side of the bracket with Soldotna.

Third-seeded West Valley and sixth-seeded South Anchorage meet in the first round on the bottom side of the bracket.

Johnson’s boys are also a seventh seed, meeting second-seeded Juneau Thursday at 1 p.m. at Dimond. The longtime Colony head coach is also excited about his team’s chances on the bottom side of the bracket.

“I don’t exactly love having to see Juneau, but I like avoiding Dimond,” Johnson said, referring to the top-seeded Lynx.

Also on the bottom side of the bracket is third-seeded West Valley (the Mid-Alaska Conference champion) which meets sixth-seeded Grace Christian Thursday at 1 p.m. Colony will play either West Valley or Grace in the second round.

“We’ve seen them both before. We know what they both bring to the table,” Johnson said. “We feel like we can be in a match with both of them.”

Colony played to 1-1 ties with both West Valley and Grace.

The Knights managed to avoid all three teams in the Cook Inlet Conference on their side of the bracket.

“The traditional powers, with the exception of Juneau, are all on the other side of the bracket,” Johnson said.

While the Knights avoided the Anchorage teams, Wasilla is grouped with them. The fourth-seeded Warriors, the NLC champions, faced fifth-seeded South Anchorage Thursday at 5 p.m. at Chugiak High School.

“It’s definitely a hard side of the bracket,” Wasilla head coach Blake Livingston said. “With all three Anchorage teams, it’s definitely a tough road.”

The Warriors have played South already this season, dropping a 3-1 decision early in the spring. But since that loss, the Warriors have improved steadily and are now NLC champions.

“I think we’re a completely different side than we were early on in the season,” Livingston said.

Wasilla head girls coach Amber Craig is not surprised her team is seeing top-seeded Chugiak in the first round.

“We figured we were going to be the eight seed,” Craig said of the Warriors, who finished third in the NLC.

Craig said she does like the fact Wasilla is on the same side of the bracket as NLC rival Soldotna. The Stars have edged the Warriors twice this season. Craig said the Warriors would love to have another shot at SoHi.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/matsu_sports.