The Shooting Stars are at the San Diego Fall Classic.    Check for their schedule here:  http://www.eyouthsportsusa.com/cgi-win/esked.exe?lB100210 

FC Kitsap White 85, the NarYSA T-Town Storm. Blackhills FC 85, SYSA Fusion, FC Shoreline Heat, Skagit Storm, all qualified for Classic this year.    I'm not sure why Kitsap had to requalify but maybe they had too few returning players.   All the other teams are new to Classic.   (The Fusion are the team from the same club as the Parrots who has more of the original Parrots on it that the Parrots do, and so it's nice to see them move up.)

Harbor FC has survived, so they will be playing in P2 this year.  Chris Ruffner will be their new coach (USSF "C" license, drafted by the Tacoma Stars).  "We had eight returning players, lost 2 players to Kitsap Red, one to Royals U19 and the rest have decided against premier soccer. We picked up several players from the Kitsap area and stand at 14, maybe 15."   Players interested in trying out for the team can contact their interim manager, Michael Blondin, at michaelrblondin@att.net.  Or you can reach Chris directly at chap_z@msn.com or phone # 253-761-8435.

FC Aanvallen 85 is looking for a goalkeeper!   They will be competing for a spot in P2.   Call Tom Gallegos at 253-288-2484 or 253-670-5577 cell, or e-mail him at thomas.gallegos@astrazeneca.com.

Norpoint 85 (who will be competing for a spot in P1) would add a couple of field players and a goal keeper if the right ones come along.  Steve Riggs is their coach, and he can be reached at home at 253-927-7924.   His work number is 253-833-6307.

Relentless (a P2 team which has never played lower than P2, and was once in P1) is still looking for few players.   Their coach, Craig Tomlinson of the Sounders, can be reached at 425-260-3634 craigtomlinson@juno.com, and their manager, Debbie Tonkovich, can be reached at 206-527-5516 relentless85@attbi.com.

The GU19 NW Nationals have combined with the Saints and will be called the NW Nationals Saints.    This will theoretically end up being a permanent option for GU17/18/19 players from the north part of Puget Sound.   This March the Saints were the GU19 Snickers Champions, and their success should help this year's GU19 version of the Saints get into tournaments this summer.   So this is a team to consider if you are looking for some exposure to college coaches.   They apparently do now have enough players to form a team, but are looking for more.  Call or e-mail Sig Hermann  (206-523-2043) or Kenny Ormsby (206-364-6016) for more information.   They will have their next tryout/practice on Sunday 3/13 from 1-2:30 pm at Martha Lake.

Other teams who are also looking for players will hopefully contact me so that I can add them.  Note that the 2002 IDDL team, the Fusion, still haven't had their tryouts.

Apart from the game between the Royals and Vision, the two big games in bracket play were Eastside vs Crossfire and the Blaze vs Kitsap.   Both of these match-ups have developed into rivalries.  

The Eastside vs Crossfire game was played at Eastlake on turf on a cool and foggy Tuesday night.  Crossfire only needed a tie to advance.  Eastside came out stronger initially, but Crossfire gradually settled down, and began to control the game,    Eastside did create some dangerous situations in the first half, often off mistakes from Crossfire, but they rarely ended in shots on goal.   Likewise, though Crossfire had more possession, thirty minutes into the first half they had had only one shot on goal, and only a couple of other chances.

At this point Eastside won a rare corner, and drove the ball to the near post at about waist level.  Crossfire didn't really move, and someone from Eastside did, and knocked the ball a short distance into the goal with her body.  Eastside briefly seemed confident after their goal, but Crossfire moved the ball into Eastside end rapidly, and Joan Quint got her foot onto ball about ten yards from the top of the penalty area, knocking a high spinning shot which slipped in under the crossbar in the corner of the goal off the Eastside keeper's upraised fingertips.  Not long after that, Sarah Martinez ran toward the penalty spot onto a beautiful diagonal cross from the right side which she one-touched into the right side of the goal.  The half ended with Crossfire looking very happy with their 2-1 lead.  They went on to control a lot of the second half.  Eastside had a couple of chances, though not nearly as many as in the first half.   It wasn't Eastside's night.   They looked uncomfortable on the bouncy turf, while Crossfire passed well, and played with more confidence.  The game remained close and exciting throughout the half, however, until Sarah scored again in the last minute or so.

Sunday 2/3, the Blaze and Kitsap met in a game which sent the winner against Crossfire and the loser to the Royals.  Blaze won 2-0.   In the two elimination round games, Norpoint traveled to Spokane to face Vision, and was bowled over 7-1.   Emerald City met Eastside in one of their familiar battles.   Eastside came out working very hard, and sent in several dangerous crosses, but were unable to convert any of them.   On one of Emerald City's first shots on goal, they had the great fortune to hit an Eastside player's arm in the box.    Usually, the ref doesn't make this call, but he did in this case.   Danielle Rueland finished it nicely on the ground in the left corner.   Emerald City gradually gained control of the game during that half with their passing, and with about ten minutes to go in the half Kaisa Keranen drilled a beautiful shot on a ball knocked back diagonally to her just beyond  the top of the penalty area.   Emerald City looked in control of the game through the rest of the half, and into the beginning of the second half, but Eastside began creating serious chances again, and Mary Boddy finished one of them nicely to the far post.   From that point onward, with much of the half remaining, Eastside pretty much dominated, and had a few great chances which they couldn't finish.  Emerald City finally seemed to regain their equilibrium with about ten minutes to go, but Eastside continued to create opportunities until the end, though none the match the pressure they applied for about 15 straight minutes after their first goal.  The whistle blew, and Emerald City hung on successfully for the 2-1 win.  This was arguably the most significant win in Emerald City 85's history.    

The quarterfinals went as many would have predicted, though the results could easily have been different in a couple of games.   

The Parrots were pretty dominant in maintaining possession in the first half against Vision, and created quite a few chances, but could only finish one of them.  The Vision did work hard, however, but were called for an inordinate number of fouls.   In the second half, the Vision had their first shot on goal early in the second half, and finished it nicely.   The Parrots immediately responded with a goal within half a minute of the kickoff.   They maintained their 2-1 lead until three minutes remaining when they made it 3-1 off a nice combination of passes.  Vision immediately won a direct off the kickoff, and scored, making the final two minutes exciting.   Vision applied a lot of pressure in the second half, and began to create chances, though not shots.    The Parrots suddenly were being called for all the fouls, and cards were inexplicably flowing, though the game was not particularly physical.    The Vision have scored 11 goals in six games against the Parrots, and clearly this match-up is always going to create close games.  

Extreme beat Emerald City 4-0, but Dave Wymer, the Extreme coach, says that it was a much closer game than that with Emerald City apparently controlling things somewhat during the first 20 minutes of the game.   But Extreme has always been a very dangerous, opportunistic team with a lot of finishers, and the 2nd Place P1 team ended up with a decisive win over the top team in P2, who is very likely to move into P1 this June.

The Crossfire vs Blaze quarterfinal was pretty evenly matched.   The Blaze apparently dominated a lot of the early going, but Crossfire gradually began to create chances.   The ball flowed from end to end without many chances until finally Sarah Martinez started on right side somewhere out near the halfway line, and dribbled patiently through several players to somewhere near the penalty spot where she finished clinically to give Crossfire their only needed goal.   Crossfire had a few more chances after that, but the Blaze also had a couple of chances off headers off corners.    As expected, a pretty evenly-matched 1-0 game between the fourth and fifth teams in P1.

The game between the reigning State Champion Royals and Kitsap was interesting for a while, but eventually the Royals began creating many chances and ended up scoring two goals in the first half, and another near the end of the game to win 3-0.   They had quite a few shots.   Kitsap did have some chances, and kept fighting until the end. 

Parrots and Royals in the Surf Cup

At the Gold Level, the Parrots struggled in their first game against the Hawaii champions and Region IV semifinalist HSC Bulls to tie 1-1.   Guest player Adriana Medina-Gonzalez of Kitsap scored the Parrots goal off a beautiful left footed strike into the upper right corner.   In game 2 against Windy City Pride, the Pride scored on their first four attacks to lead 4-1.   The Parrots scored just before the half to make it 4-2.   The Parrots were controlling the game and everyone was convinced we would win, and at halftime someone suddenly had a deja vu  which confirmed the notion.   However, it proved incorrect, and we were only able to score two goals to tie the game 4-4.   Mary Kuder scored the final three goals; the first was off a long header by Lakeside teammate Kelly Kosco.  The game was rewarding because of the way we ground back into a tie which game us six points in our bracket.    In game 3 we outplayed the Colorado Rush Swoosh steadily throughout the game, creating a variety of chances and balls off the post, but we were able to score only one goal, on a chip into the far netting by right fullback guest player Darcie Gardner of Whatcom Rangers 86.   This was enough to send us through first in our bracket on the goals allowed tiebreaker.   We beat the Posh in the quarterfinals 1-0.   Lisa Overbo scored early on a great individual effort.   We controlled a lot of the first half, but the second half the Posh worked very, very hard in their direct style, and created some great chances.   In the semis, we lost 1-0 to the Cal North finalist Pleasanton Rage.   This was our best game, and we had many chances to score that we normally would have buried including a couple of sitters within the six yard box, but the gods were against us, and the Rage scored with three minutes left on one of their very rare shots up to that point.    We pushed up our guest player center back Tricia Loomis of Aanvallen 84, and had another couple of further chances to beat the keeper within 12 yards of the goal, but didn't.   But the players had played so well that no one was seriously discouraged.    All four guest players, Ad, Darcie, Trish, and Ashley McDougall of Crossfire, are very positive people, and fit in very well.    We were particularly grateful to them because two of our players, Dani Bridges and Katie Hall, were injured seriously enough that they were unable to play much after the first couple of games.   The Rage lost in the final 1-0 to the Minnesota Champions and Region II semifinalist St Croix Magnuson (who in their semifinal had beat Real Colorado, Colorado champions and Region IV semifinalists 1-0).    It was a great trip.   http://www.surfcup.com/scxxii_scores/GU-17G.htm 

The 86 ODP regional camp started Monday, and most of the players on the state team were from the U17s.  On Monday they surprised the Cal South A team by outplaying them for the entire game, dominating in shots, chances, and corners, but only managed a 1-1 tie, when Heidi Gray dribbled through several players and scored on a left footed driven ball from just inside the penalty box with under 10 minutes remaining. On Tuesday, reality returned as the Washington ODP team struggled in a 3-1 loss to a very skilled and confident Cal North team.   The Washington goal came in the first half when Sarah Martinez scored off a nice through ball by Mary Kuder.   Despite that result, on the basis of their performance against Cal South seven players got a chance to play in the afternoon invitational game.  Hillary Heath, Jaime Souza, Adriana Gonzalez-Medina, Heidi Grey, Tricia Loomis, Micki Oda-Burns, and Juli Edwards all played well in a scoreless game.  (Mary Kuder and Jaime Souza played in a less meaningful invitational game on Monday: Mary played very well in that game.)   On Wednesday morning, the Washington team lost 2-1 to Colorado after leading 1-0 for most of the game.    Jeanne Webster headed in a ball which had been flicked on by an unknown Washington or Colorado player.    Wednesday's invitational game was between the 85 regional pool with 30 players invited including Micki Oda-Burns and Jeanne Webster.   Thursday the WA team got to play in the invitational game as the opposition, and defeated the invitational team players (including Whitney Talbott of the Lake Oswego Fusion) 4-1.   The first goal was by Jessica Scott (Spokane Shadow 86) from an assist from Sophie Spickard.   Hillary had a hat-trick: one unassisted, one off a flick from Kyle MacFarlane, and one from a through ball from Sophie.   On Friday morning the regional pool was announced.   The same five players who made it last year made it again from Washington: Jaime, Juli, Adriana, Heidi, and Micki, plus Hillary, who was playing up.   Congratulations to all of them, and to the Washington team for their very successful camp!  

The regional staff suggested to Hillary that she drop down to her own age level for the pool training to assure that she would make it on the regional team, so she will return to Moscow in a week for the 87 regional pool training.   Hillary was a dominant force in forward, and had a great 86 camp.  Unfortunately, she was taken down in the box while scoring a goal fifteen minutes into the camp, tore ankle ligaments badly, and was out for seven weeks.

Team information for players still seeking teams:

Dosveedanya no longer exists.   They were always one of the strongest teams in the state, and it's a blow to the league that they couldn't continue.   We will miss our longtime rival Dos.  Justin, where are you?

Emerald City picked up at least three Dos players.   They may still have a spot.   The new EC coach is Bobby Bruch Emerald City FC 85 206-290-4574  bobbyb@spu.edu   Check for more information on Bobby's great coaching credentials here.   The EC manager is Greg White 205-323-0042 gwhite53@aol.com.   

Norpoint were at 15 players two months ago, and were open to taking more if the right ones came along.   Call their coach, Steve Riggs, at 253-927-7924 for more information.

Crossfire and the Extreme are currently at the 18 player limit.   Blaze started at 18, but are now down to 17 players.   Kitsap has 17 players.   Spokane Vision has 2-3 spots.    Eastside had 16 players at last report.  

The Royals are also at 18 players.  They have a new web page under construction with a link to their new roster.

The Blaze and Kitsap have added information to their websites about individual players, which is interesting to read.   Click on the team names to go to their sites, and look under "Roster".   Kitsap has a page from their club website, and a team website.    The team website has a link from the club website, and has pictures with it.

Blaze has a news page which gets into some of the deeper issues involving the team.

Three Rivers has a new coach this year.    The Shooting Stars also have 16 players reportedly.   Dave Brown, the SPCDC coaching director, is the new Stars coach.   Snohomish United is perhaps still looking for players, particularly a keeper.  Phone number for coach Ricardo Rivera is 425-337-3630.  Relentless had enough returning players to stay in P2 and a lot of new ones.   And a new coach, Seattle Sounder Craig Tomlinson.  Whidbey Islanders have a new coach, Marvin Moreno, who did a great job with Emerald City.    They were favored to go through first in the P2 LPT, and did.. Harbor FC may have a couple of spots remaining.   Contact their new coach, Helmut Immig, at 253 222 8375, or their assistant, Marla Klipper, at 253-265-1514.   

The Marauders did not have enough returning players to hold their spot in the Division 2 LPT.   They combined with their B team.   

The Heartbreakers had bad luck with injuries and sickness at LPTs, and still almost made it through in their depleted condition.   They reached the quarterfinals in the Snickers Cup last year, and are favored to win Classic this year.

Valez Nationals will be in Classic, and may still have room on their team.   You can reach their coach, Kosta, at 425-330-3332  SoccerCoachKP@aol.com.