GOALTacoma Blog: November 2007

Tacoma Stars season schedule here.

The 2007-08 Premier Arena Soccer League (PASL) season kicks off this Saturday night December 1st in the Northwest Division. The Snohomish Skyhawks will host the Seattle Wolves at 7:00 PM in the Soccer Dome. The Bellingham (PSSA) Rapids visit Wenatchee the same night, and the Tacoma Stars will open in Portland against the Bombers.

You can see the local schedule of home matches here. Here's the league division standings page.

The PASL NW has a new look this season, with new clubs in Seattle (Wolves) and Bellingham (PSSA Rapids). The other Washington clubs are the Tacoma Stars, Snohomish Skyhawks and Wenatchee Fire. Two Oregon clubs round out the division, the Central Oregon (Bend) Steelheaders and the Troutdale (Portland) Bombers.

The clubs are made up of players who have played pro, semi-pro, college or high-level amateur soccer.

Tacoma Stars lead the PASL NW in attendance.

Last season the division regular season was won by Tacoma. The playoffs went down to the wire before the Snohomish Skyhawks won a thrilling 6-5 match over the Stars before over 700 fans at the Tacoma Soccer Center. The last-second win sent Snohomish on to the international finals. The Stars would later join them after a club back east was unable to fill their spot. At internationals the Stars actually finished better that the Skyhawks.

This season all bets are off on how the division will end up. Unless, that is, you'd like to place a wager on the new Seattle Wolves, who will have 10 former or current Seattle Sounders on their roster.

The league venues vary in size and fan accessibility. The best venue for watching and enjoying a beer at the same time is definitely Tacoma's Soccer Center. The "Far Post" pub hangs over one goal and so can fans while holding their beverage of choice.

The Seattle Wolves will call Starfire home. It's a great venue in general but not the best for viewing the indoor game as a spectator. Mad Pizza and beer are nearby but must stay in the restaurant.

If you haven't been out to a PASL match then this is your year to give it a go. The prices are right and the action is fast-paced and at a high level.

The GOALSeattle.com local match calendar has match dates and also has links to the various venues. Take a minute to hunt down where the clubs are playing and look for more info.