Hope Christian wins third straight girls soccer championship

It seems that good things come in threes for the Hope Christian girls soccer team.

By besting No. 2 Albuquerque Academy for the third time this season with a 4-1 victory in the Class 4A final, the top-seeded Huskies secured their third straight blue trophy at the UNM Soccer Complex on Saturday. Three-peats don’t come cheaply, says Hope coach Amy Fankam, who has been on the sideline for all three championship victories.

“It’s tough,” she said. “I think it gets harder every year, just more pressure. There’s more pressure, more expectation. I think these seniors are so deserving of just going out this way — the work that they’ve put in.”

Hope (20-2-1) spent much of the game on the attack, and by the 56th minute, the Huskies had built a comfortable 3-0 lead. Senior striker Savanah Sanchez had a hand in all three of those goals. She assisted on Seana Anaya’s shot to kick off the scoring in the 28th minute, converted on a penalty kick in the 45th and fired a shot into the left corner past Academy keeper Cara Anderson in the 58th to cap off an impressive close to her career.

“It just feels awesome. It’s truly an honor,” Sanchez said. “I mean, three (championships), that’s everything someone dreams of. We did it and it feels awesome.”

Scoring four times against the Cal Poly-bound Anderson is an impressive achievement in itself.

“Cara’s a phenomenal keeper. We talked a lot about her,” Fankam said. “Sav’s amazing. What can you say about a kid like that? An amazing soccer player, and an even better human being.”

The Chargers (17-5-1) cut the deficit to 3-1 on an Adeline Spratley goal in the 62nd minute, but Hope quickly squashed any notion of a comeback when Zylee Dominguez answered in the 65th to provide the final margin.

“It means the world,” Dominguez said of the three-peat. “This program is so special and to be a part of it is something amazing. It’s something that not the ordinary person gets to do. Amy’s not an ordinary coach. These aren’t ordinary girls, and I’m so blessed.”

Hope is the first girls program to capture three consecutive titles since Academy accomplished the feat under Peter Glidden from 2016 to 2018. The current Huskies roster features a mix of veterans and youth, with six seniors — including Sanchez and Dominguez — as well as an emerging cast of eighth-graders, freshmen and sophomores. For this particular season, it was an ideal mix.

“This group, I’ll just remember how much the little kids look up to us,” Sanchez said. “They’re so precious, and it’s been so fun playing with such younger girls. I learn a lot from them, and I think they learn a lot from me.”

That youthful presence also means there’s continued optimism that Hope can add to its current string of championships.

“We’re excited because the seniors did such a great job of teaching our younger kids,” Fankam said. “We had five eighth-graders play a pretty significant role on our team. We’re expecting more next year. There’s always more coming in. It’s so important that you have the older kids leading them on the right way to do things.”

Photos: Hope Christian girls wins the 4A state championship over Albuquerque Academy