On To The Quarterfinals!

As expected Jarad Brisbin's Snohomish United went 3-0 in the group stage to win the group and book a spot in the state quarterfinals. United scored eight goals and didn't concede any. Next up for the senior captain is a 2/28 date with HPFC Heat who also went 3-0 in group play. Jarad's team did play HPFC in a tight match during the regular season, with Snohomish coming out of the road game with a 1-0 win.

Now on to the unexpected, good and bad. The Three Rivers United U16 team entered into a very tough group and managed a 1-1 road draw and an upset 1-0 home win. On Sunday the sophomore aged team found themselves in a pressure packed situation. With a win the group was theirs which also included a bye into the quarterfinals, a draw and they would advance to the knockout round, a loss and their season was most likely over. Jake Zoulek scored a goal to get his team the lead and it proved important as the match was tightly contested, there were goal scoring opportunities for both teams. In the final two minutes with United trying to conserve the victory Zoulek grabbed his second goal of the game to close out the match. United won 2-0 and finished unbeaten in their group with two wins and one draw. They scored four goals and only conceded one. Jake Zoulek scored three of the four goals. They will also play on 2/28 in a home quarterfinal match up with their opponent TBD.

Finally our U17 Celtic team was dealt a shock as they were in a three team bracket with teams they had beat 1-0 and 4-0 in regular season play, they were heavily favored to advance out of group play. After losing a 2-1 game to ECFC, they needed to beat a Crossfire "b" team. In an uncharacteristically high scoring game United lost 6-5 to end their season. The Southridge players were upset with some errors that were made in the game and dismayed at the call that led to a penalty kick that was scored against them which eventually decided the match.

So for five Southridge players the state cup dream lives on and for the other four they will start working hard to get themselves ready for the high school season that begins in three weeks.

Updates on State Cup

First of all I have to make a correction to my last post, I Should have known better than to trust WSYSA website without confirming the results. Jarad Brisbin's Snohomish United played their first game on Saturday against BFC and won 3-0. They also played Sun City yesterday and won 1-0. So they have pretty much locked up advancement to the knockout round and are playing Emerald City next week and will try to win their group.

The U17 Celtic team lost a close game to Emerald City 2-1. I spoke with the assistant coach of Emerald City (former Southridge and SU player Cam Mertens) and he told me the referee made two game changing decisions that both benefited Emerald City. The first was on a goal scored by an Emerald City player who was clearly in an offside position, but the goal was allowed. The second decision came when Celtic scored a goal off a loose ball in front of the keeper. The ref disallowed the goal because it was deemed that the keeper had possession at one point. So it was a tough result for Celtic although in the Tri-Cities we have become accustomed to not having a home field advantage in the refereeing department. Next up is a trip to the west side to play Crossfire. A win or possibly even a draw will be enough to see Celtic go through in this three team bracket.

The best result of the weekend had to be the U16 united team winning against PDL first divsion runner up Columbia Timbers. After stealing a result on the road last weekend United was faced with their toughest state cup challenge yet and were able to poke a ball home off a corner kick and hold on for a 1-0 win. The victory put united in the drivers seat where a win next weekend will give them first place in the group and an automatic berth to the quarter finals. A draw should be enough to get them into the knockout round, but a loss will bring the tiebreaker scenarios into play. They wrap up group play next week at Harbor FC.

State Cup Play

For 11 Southridge soccer players the club season is almost wrapped up and the only thing left before high school ball is the US Youth Soccer Washington State Championship Cup.


It got under way last weekend with the U16 United team which has sophomores Jake Zoulek, Chandler Mertens, Brandon T. and freshmen Conner Mertens all playing for them.

United got a tough opening round game with State League champs SCFC Fury. This is a team United struggled with all season and lost to them three times. On Saturday however United were able to come up with a result after a 1-1 tie. Jake Zoulek scored the lone goal and although Fury equalised a few minutes later getting an opening round draw and earning some points on the road was a great accomplishment. United play a tough Columbia Timbers team at home on Sunday and will be happy to earn another draw against a tough opponent.

Senior Jarad Brisbin and his Snohomish United team also opened their play last weekend and faced their first hiccup of the season. After winning the state league by going 10-0, Snohomish drew BFC 0-0. Again, the important thing in the group stages of a tournament is to get a result in your first game and Snohomish has done that. They play John Zouleks Sun City team this Sunday in Yakima. Zoulek however has decided to not play state cup in an effort to be fit for the high school season.

The U17 Celtic team that has Bill Landefeld, Josh Mendoza, Conner Cravens and Zach Russell open their state cup play with old foes Emerald City at home on Saturday. These two teams know each other well as they have both earned promotions each of the last three years and both played at the states highest level this year. In their only match up of the regular season Celtic won 1-0. Look for the winner of this game to win the group stage and book a spot in the quarterfinals.

I will update the blog after the weekend games, Good luck 3 Rivers and Southridge players!

Conditioning Camp

Our conditioning camp will start February 2nd at Lampson Stadium and will run from 5:00 to 7:00 pm. The camp will run the entire month of February and will be on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays.

The goal of the camp is to get as close to match fitness as possible so we don't have to spend the first two weeks of practice running.

Only five more weeks until the first day of practice!

Jarad Brisbin Makes College Choice.

Team Captain and four year starter Jarad Brisbin has decided to play his college ball at Western Washington University.

Jarad is a three time all conference selection at three different positions, including last year's first team selection at forward. He was also nominated to the Tri-City Herald's all area team as a first team selection.

Jarad led the Suns in scoring his freshmen and sophomore years and was the second leading scorer last year. He has scored 13 goals and assisted 12 during his high school career.

Bris has been instrumental in the rebuilding of the Suns Soccer Program, he came into a team that had only won three varsity games in the previous four years. Although his freshmen year the team had another one win season they played in seven shootouts and 12 one goal games. This was the turning point in the program and in the following two years the Suns have posted 18 wins and Jarad has been the leader of the team in that time.

Western gets a versatile player who can play either as a holding midfielder or a defensive center back at the college level. He is dominant in the air and can shut down the best of players in one on one situations. Western finished the season at 8-11-1 but were a respectable 5-3 in league play. Everyone who has been associated with Jarad is proud of him and knows that he will succeed at the next level.

He has one more important season to play before he can worry about moving to Bellingham.