4A girls championship: Make it five in a row for Hope Christian

One streak for the Hope Christian Huskies ended this season. The more important streak endures.

Hope’s fifth consecutive Class 4A girls state soccer championship was probably the most dramatic of this dynastic run, with sophomore Nikki Dountas’ header seven minutes into the first overtime sending the top-seeded Huskies (22-1) to a 2-1 victory over No. 2 Albuquerque Academy on Friday afternoon at the University of New Mexico complex.

“I was shocked,” Dountas said, smiling. “I am not very good with finishing with my feet, but I love finishing with my head.”

On the game-winning play, sophomore Louisa Landavazo sent a cross into the box, where it was redirected into the net by Dountas from roughly 5 yards out.

“Louisa just put a great ball in, and Nikki is fantastic in the air, and proved again today just how good she is,” Hope coach Amy Fankam said.

Only one girls program in New Mexico’s history — La Cueva, with seven in a row from 1989-1995 — has had a championship-winning streak in girls soccer longer than the run Hope currently is riding.

The Huskies are an astounding 109-5-1 during these last five seasons.

“It’s such a surreal feeling,” said Hope freshman forward Brooklyn Fankam amidst the post-game celebration.

There was also a 56-game winning streak in there, a streak that lasted longer than two years but ended just two weeks ago — at the hands of the Chargers.

“We came out with so much more fire today,” Huskies senior midfielder/defender Mason Ricker said.

And not surprisingly, Hope was just the tiniest bit eager to see Academy again on Friday.

“That was the only team we wanted to play,” Dountas said. “It was frustrating (having them beat us), but I think it lit a fire underneath all of us.”

The Huskies certainly performed that way in the first half, with a dominating 40 minutes in which roughly 85% of the possession belonged to Hope in Academy’s side of the pitch.

The Huskies scored the game’s first goal. Fankam’s tally, in the 20th minute, was her 34th of the season.

And Hope might very well have gone into halftime with a multiple-goal lead; there were several other excellent scoring chances that were not converted.

The Chargers (18-4-1) tightened things up on the defensive end after halftime, and they also picked up the equalizing goal not long after the second half began.

Junior Selena Broussard, with Academy in transition, shed one defender, found herself 1-on-1 with Hope freshman goalkeeper Maddy James, and fired a shot past James and just inside the far post in the 45th minute from about 20 yards out.

Hope had two stellar scoring chances in the closing minutes of regulation; one shot went wide by about the width of the ball, the other was a tremendous one-handed save by a diving Academy senior keeper Sophia Hasse, who deflected a shot from on top of the box just wide.

It had been fairly quiet in OT until the ball into the box by Landavazo.

“It was an incredible ball by Lou,” Dountas said.

Said Brooklyn Fankam, “It was really scary (being in OT), but I’m just glad we have amazing teammates to fall back on. It was just the perfect play.”

Academy finished second in state to Hope Christian for the third straight November.

“We pushed them further than they’ve been pushed at all this season,” Academy coach Andrew Wiese said. “... And I think you get a bounce to go your way, you walk away with a different result.”

Meanwhile, the Huskies, ominously for the chase pack in 4A, is graduating only two players off this roster.

“It’s been incredible,” said one of those two, Ricker. “But I don’t think everyone sees the work this team has put in. It’s definitely crazy, but we’ve worked so hard for this moment.”

As for what set this team apart from other championship teams, coach Fankam said it was easy.

“Their love for each other,” she said. “It’s the least amount of drama we’ve ever had on a team.”

Moments from the 2025 girls state soccer finals