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FAIRBANKS — The West Valley girls clinched a trip to the state soccer tournament by downing cross-town rival Lathrop 3-1 on Saturday evening at West Valley.

The win gave the Wolfpack a 10-0-0 record in the Mid Alaska Conference as they head to Anchorage for the state tournament on Thursday through Saturday for the third time in four years.

“That’s been our goal the entire season,” West Valley coach Greg Gibson said. “Early in the season we played well against two of the top three teams in the state, so we’re feeling pretty optimistic that we can compete down there.”

Julia Mackey scored two goals and set up the third to highlight Saturday’s effort against Lathrop.

Mackey scored the first goal about five minutes into the game when she headed in a cross from Leah Simpson.

“It was a beautiful play, just like you draw it up in practice,” Gibson said.

Leading 1-0 at halftime, Erica Veazey got what proved to be the game-winning goal off a cross from Mackey.

Lathrop’s lone goal came on a penalty kick from Hannah Ross.

West Valley keeper Mackenzie Maxwell earned the win.

“It was a very well-played game,” said Lathrop coach Danny Gibson. “In a lot of ways I think we did some things better (than they did), we just couldn’t score.”

West Valley heads into the state tournament with a 14-2-1 record.

The West Valley boys, who already earned a trip to the state tournament, completed a 9-0-1 conference season with a 1-0 win against the Malemutes earlier Saturday.

Tyler Foster made four saves to earn the shutout, while sophomore Chad Stuart scored the lone goal on a penalty kick in the 30th minute.

“There was a lot of emotion out there today,” West Valley coach Howard Maxwell said. “Lathrop played hard and it was a very aggressive game.”

West Valley’s Sawyer Kisken suffered a cut eyelid that took 10 stitches to close. Maxwell said he wasn’t sure if Kisken would be able to play when the state tournament opens on Thursday at the Anchorage Football Stadium.

West Valley boasts a 13-0-3 overall record and has allowed just seven goals in 16 games. Maxwell said he believes the Wolfpack are the only unbeaten team in the state and he thinks they allowed the fewest goals of any team in the state.

Monroe boys win

The Monroe Catholic boys closed out their season with a 4-0 win over Hutchison on Saturday night.

Nolan Burcell and Bryan Laurencelle each scored two goals for the Rams.

Other details were not available.

Information on other games played Saturday was not available.

Baseball

The Eielson Ravens couldn’t hold off a late rally from the Kodiak Bears as they fell 9-8 at Newby Field.

The Ravens led 8-5 before a Bears triple drove in three runs in the top of the sixth to tie the score.

In the seventh, Kodiak’s leadoff hitter reached on an error and two sacrifice flies drove him in for the winning run.

Ravens coach Dennis Gould said Eielson viewed the game as a tune-up for the end of the regular season, and in that aspect he was pleased.

Freshman Connor Welch impressed Gould with an unexpected first varsity pitching performance. A Ravens pitcher was hurt, and Welch became an emergency substitute on the mound.

Welch tossed three innings, giving up four runs while striking out three and walking one. The main drag on his appearance was the bases-clearing triple in the sixth.

“I was very, very happy with his outing,” Gould said.

Welch went 2-for-3 at the plate, scored three runs and drove in one. Ben Lauritzen hit 2-for-3 with 2 RBIs for the Ravens.

Eielson (5-5, 5-4 Mid Alaska) hosts the Lathrop Malemutes at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Newby Field.

Results of Saturday’s North Pole-Kodiak game were not available.

Softball

The Lathrop Malemutes split a pair of Railbelt Conference softball games in the Mat-Su Valley Friday and Saturday.

Lathrop suffered a 6-5 loss to Colony on Friday and bounced back to beat Wasilla 18-2 on Saturday thanks to a 14-run third inning.

Shelby Carlson hit two home runs and drove in three runs in Saturday’s win. Vickie Persinger added a single, double and three RBIs in the third inning. Kayla Fisher contributed a double and triple in the third inning as well.

Katie Solomon earned the win and had four strikeouts. She allowed one hit in her three innings on the mound.

Joshua Armstrong contributed to this article. Contact sports editor Bob Eley at 459-7581.