Alaska Sports Hall of Fame

He has succeeded at every level of soccer, from high school to junior college to NAIA.

Anchorage’s Zak Naylor wants to climb the ladder and will take another step by playing this summer with the Vancouver Victory of the Evergreen Premier League in Washington.

The amateur men’s league is affiliated with the United States Adult Soccer Association and plays games from April to July.

“A lot of the top colleges will send their players to these programs over the summer, so I’m going to be playing against the best players from this area,” Naylor told me. “It’ll be pretty intense. I’m excited for it.”

The 21-year-old forward is coming off a strong junior season at Concordia College, where he bagged 5 goals and 4 assists in 18 games to finish second on the team with 14 points.

He netted 18 goals in two seasons at Edmonds Community College as an underclassman.

Naylor, of South High fame, made the Vancouver Victory after an open tryout.

“It went well,” he said. “All these guys are good. It’s a little higher level. It gives me options for after college and next year is my last season, so it’s a pretty big season, it’s pretty crucial.

“Just making the team gives me hope that maybe I can play at the next level. I just want to keep getting better and better because there’s always room for improvement.”

Joining Naylor on the Vancouver Victory is former youth teammate Jaime Velasco, who now plays for Oregon State University.

“I think we were 8 years old when we last played together,” Naylor said with a laugh. “We played for Full Force; they were Northern Lights at that time. We had a really good team. His dad was the coach.”