Flashback: Tide capsize Cascade

What else is the off-season for, if not going back and enjoying Jenni's photos all over again! Go Tide!

Two Tide Who Made Off-season News

Raphael Cox.

It was more than just Ciaran O'Brien (TFC 2007) who made news this Tacoma off-season. Did you see these stories when they first came out?

Raphael Cox was featured in the Tacoma Weekly last September:

"I really wanted to go to a big college and my grades weren't quite good enough," Cox said. "I played for a small club team and we did well, but it wasn't one of the big, power names in club soccer. I didn't score a lot of goals, I was just kind of like the behind-the-scenes guy."

At Highline, he led his team to the Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges title and was named to the league's all-star team. Colleges started to take note of the 5-foot-7-inch midfielder.

"The next season, I sat out because I got offers from Seattle (University) and Seattle Pacific," he said. "I figured, 'Why play when I've already got a sure thing playing, and the coaches (at Highline) were generous enough to let me train with the team that year."

Eric Anton (left, #6)

Eric Anton was named Patriot League "Offensive Player of the Year" as Colgate won the crown.

Senior Eric Anton, who was later named the Patriot League Offensive Player of the Year, stepped up and netted the penalty kick for his fifth goal of the season. After taking the lead, the Raiders defense, led by senior Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year Dan Belke and junior goalie David Cappuccio, looked to keep its one-goal advantage intact. Bucknell prevented that from happening though when Mark Schmiegel scored from ten yards out, tying the score in the 79th minute. Both teams had their fair share of chances at the end of regulation and in both overtimes, but it would take an exciting penalty kick shootout to determine the winner.

Flashback: Tide over Abbotsford 3-0

Tacoma Tide FC went undefeated at Curtis High School Field in 2007. One of those wins was this 3-0 conquest over the Abbotsford Rangers. This year "Abbey" will call themselves the 'Mariners.'

Flashback: Tide not afraid of Spiders

Here's a slide show of Jenni's photos from 2007's 4-1 Tacoma win over the Spokane Spiders.

Flashback: Tide swamp Yakima 5-0, earn playoff spot

Tacoma Tide FC finished an undefeated 2007 home campaign with the 5-0 rout over Yakima Reds on July 14th at University Place. Below are a video highlight reel and a photo slide show from the match. The Tide earned their first-ever playoff spot with the win.

Flashback: Tide beat BYU 2-0

One of the highlights of the 2007 Tacoma Tide FC season was beating the BYU Cougars for the first time. Goals by Ciaran O'Brien and Rory Agu sealed a 2-0 win last May for TFC. See a slide show of photos from that match by Jenni Conner uploaded to YouTube.com:

A Puget Sound Soccer Summer

Beach soccer at Alki, Seattle.

The summer of 2008 will offer many options for soccer fans to take in a high-level local match. The Seattle Sounders, Sounders Women, Tacoma Tide FC and Seattle Wolves FC all have their home schedules out.

GOALSeattle.com has a Local Match Calendar for you to use as your guide to soccer entertainment this season.

The USL-1 Seattle Sounders open their final home campaign in that league with a Saturday May 10th meeting against arch rival Portland Timbers at Qwest Field at 7:05 PM. It will be the last scheduled match in Seattle between the two sides for the known future.

In South Sound Tacoma Tide FC kick off their home slate the next night, Sunday May 11th, at 1:05 against Salem Oregon's Cascade Surge at Curtis High School in University Place, Tacoma.

The Sounders Women of the W-League will play exhibition matches on May 6th and 8th before starting their league home fixture list against the Ventura Fusion on Thursday night May 15th at 7:00 PM at Starfire.

Seattle Wolves FC are moving up a year earlier than expected to the Pacific Coast Soccer League (PCSL). The Wolves open their home schedule on Saturday May 17th at 2:30 PM when they host Victoria United.

In far North Sound the Puget Sound Soccer Academy Rapids (PSSA) tackle another PCSL schedule with a home opener on Saturday May 10th at Whatcom Community College against Seattle Wolves FC.

Here are some other highlights to watch for this summer...

* Tacoma Tide FC usually draw their biggest league crowd when the BYU Cougars come calling. That visit from the Utah club comes this year on Saturday May 24th.

* Tacoma Tide FC play 6 of 8 home matches by June 7th. Meanwhile, the Seattle Sounders schedule is the opposite, back-loaded with 7 straight home matches late in the season.

* All three local Men's clubs will be at home the same night on June 7th. The Sounders host Minnesota at 8:00 PM. The Wolves will be across the walkway at Starfire hosting Kamloops at 7:30 PM. Meanwhile, down in Tacoma the Tide will play the new Vancouver Whitecaps PDL club for the first time at 7:05 PM.

* The Sounders Women play their biggest rival, the Vancouver Whitecaps Women, on Monday June 30th at Starfire.

* Seattle Wolves FC will host the Vancouver Whitecaps prospects on Saturday May 31st at 2:30 PM.

* The Sounders Men will host Vancouver twice, Wednesday August 20th and Saturday September 20th. The latter will be the last-ever regular season league match between the two historic rivals.

Tacoma Tide 2008 Schedule Is Out!

The 2008 schedule for the Tacoma Tide has been released, and it features a prominence of early-season home matches.

Fri. May 9........at Spokane (5 PM)
Sun. May 11.......Cascade Surge (1:05 PM)
Sat. May 17.......at Yakima (7:05 PM)
Fri. May 23.......Ogden Outlaws (7:05 PM)
Sat. May 24.......BYU Cougars (7:05 PM)
Sat. May 31.......Spokane Spiders (7:05 PM)
Fri. June 6.......Abottsford Mariners (7:05 PM)
Sat. June 7.......Vancouver Whitecaps Residency (7:05 PM)
Fri. June 13......at Ogden (6:00 PM)
Sat. June 14......at BYU (6:30 PM)
Fri. June 20......Spokane Spiders (7:05 PM)
Sat. June 21......at Cascade (7:35 PM)
Sat. June 28......at Vancouver (3:00 PM)
Sun. June 29......at Abottsford (1:00 PM)
Tues. July 8......Seattle Sounders (7:05 PM)
Sat. July 12......at Cascade (7:05 PM)
Sat. July 19......Yakima Reds (7:05 PM)

Tacoma Tide FC release promo video

South Sound in the house!

Here comes the Tacoma Tide Football Club with a brand new video that features their sharp new crest and highlights their hopes and accomplishments in South sound semi-pro soccer.




The Sounders and Tide hope to play each other again in 2008. The clubs drew 2-2 in a thriller in Tacoma last July.

UPDATE: Our Boys at MLS Combine

Ciaran O'Brien (red, left) hustles during MLS Combine.
3rd Degree photo. / Andy Mead, YJCphoto.com

Buzz over at 3rd Degree has posted some final observations of the recent MLS Combine heading into Friday's MLS Superdraft.

He likes what he saw from Washington Husky Ely Allen and Federal Way native and Tacoma Tide midfielder Ciaran O'Brien. He came around to seeing the better parts of Kevin Forrest's game, too.

On Allen:
"A forward in college but I think he’s best as a high wing in a 4-3-3 or wide mid in a 4-4-2. He’s got terrific energy and has enough game to separate from a defender. Quick burst and first step. Fantastic motor he goes hard all game, great range."

On O'Brien:
"A class midfielder who plays better deep in the midfield. Great passer who reads the game well and can dictate pace of play. Great awareness. Got better as the combine progressed."

On Forrest:
"Wonderful work rate, energy, and tenacious as hell. He never, ever stops working or moving. He’s smart too, know where he’s supposed to be. The problem is he doesn’t have any way to separate from defenders. He spent the entire combine up top, I really wish he would have tried it wide in midfield cause I think he could be terrific there."

Olympia Soccer Shop Keeps Eye On Goal

Olympian Newspaper photo.

The Olympian has a nice feature today on a local soccer tore, the Wembley Soccer Shop:

Through a mutual friend, former college goalkeeper Gress found out about Hamilton's shop and decided to move to Olympia from Philadelphia to try his hand at marketing it. Gress enjoyed the business and has been playing and coaching the game in South Sound since joining the store 13 years ago as Hamilton's partner.

The business has grown over the years through networking. That means Gress making every coaches' and league meeting he can find to sell the shop's variety of merchandise including soccer balls, jerseys, shoes and accessories.

"We've grown (in sales) every year," Gress said. "It involves a lot of beating feet on brick."

"Our biggest asset is word-of-mouth advertising," Hamilton said. "Our biggest competition is not another brick-and-mortar store, but the Internet."

Read the entire article here.

Wolves comeback tops Stars

Seattle edged Tacoma 18-16 (9 goals to 8) in PASL indoor soccer action January 12th at Starfire Sports Complex.

After an early lead the Stars eventually fell on a hat trick by Seattle Sounder Leighton O'Brien.

We'll try to post some more of Jenni's photos later.

Ciaran O'Brien going 'Pro'

Ciaran O'Brien (right) launches a shot last season while with the Tacoma Tide. O'Brien was named all-league in midfield and led Tacoma in scoring.
Jenni Conner GOALTacoma.com photo.

Several Major League Soccer bloggers are reporting that local lad Ciaran O'Brien is going to skip his senior year of NCAA eligibility and sign as a 2008 Generation Adidas player and thus be eligible for the 2008 MLS combine and draft which follows.

(The timing sucks for Seattle MLS, as they don't have drafting rights this year. So O'Brien will likely end up with one of the 'other' 14 MLS teams to start his career.)

3rdDegree.net says that's what people at UCSB are saying about O'Brien.

From College to Pros jumps in with more info on O'Brien and the other player said to have already comitted to GA 2008.

Generation Adidas is a joint venture between Major League Soccer and the United States Soccer Federation aimed to raise the level of young soccer talent in the United States. The program, sponsored by adidas, encourages early entry (without college graduation) of American players into MLS. Until 2005, the program was sponsored by Nike and was called Project-40.

Watch O'Brien's free kick goal against Yakima from 2007:

Tacoma Tide beat Yakima Reds 5-0
Uploaded by sounderfan