37 players came to The Soccer Center in Tacoma Friday night September 13 to try and earn a place on the 2008-2009 Tacoma Stars team. Head coach Greg Howes and assistant coach Teddy Mitalas choose 20 players to make up the initial player pool. The rosters for both the premier and reserve teams will be completed through a series of invitation only tryouts for college and professional players to be held before the start of the season in mid-December.
The players selected to be Tacoma Stars:
Aaron Anderson, Jerry Luppy, Scott Anderson, Brian Moore, Adam Becker, Nate Ford, Lee Williams, Jeff Bader, Pat O'Brien, Patrick Lee, Lukas Rydberg, Tony Rolewicz, Trent Pettibon, Chris Kintz, Alex Megson, Kris Bowers, Micah Saxman, Amos Freieit, Casey Sullivan, Cameron Stone, Keven Creely, Cris Arquelles, Uros Zecevic and Eric Sterling.
Reds sit on the stairs before a 2007 match in Tacoma.
It is a sad day for soccer in the state of Washington and for fans of the Yakima Reds.
It had been reported that the Reds were looking for investors to remain alive for 2009. Yesterday the club website posted the following message:
Yakima Reds forced to call it quits after 14 years in the Yakima community - It is with great sadness that I have to write this email to inform you that the Yakima Reds will no longer be a part of the United Soccer Leagues or the Yakima Community. Irwin Research & Development, the owner of the Yakima Reds, has been greatly effected by the current economy, and does not have the finances to support the Yakima Reds in 2009. We have had some great sponsors who have supported us through the years, but the majority of the expenses were covered by Irwin Research & Development. We have tried to get backing from other business owners in our area, sending out letters asking for support, but just could not come up with the funding to commit for 2009 in the time that was needed.
Fans of Tacoma Tide FC will be especially saddened by these developments. In three short seasons the Tide and Reds became strong rivals. The battles of Yellow v. Red never failed to produce exciting and often emotional soccer.
The Reds came into the PDL just one season after the current Sounders came back to life in what is now the USL-1. For fourteen seasons the Reds brought soccer to the Valley and gave fans and players a chance to celebrate the beautiful game.
Along the way players like Jake Sagare and 2008 League MVP Junior Garcia starred for Yakima. The Reds lived on after the Spokane Shadow folded in early 2006. Out of the death of the Shadow Tacoma FC quickly came to life and took over the Shadow's home dates out west. Tacoma FC and Yakima met for the first time on May 20, 2006. TFC got their first goal and first-ever point in a 1-1 draw with the Reds. The Reds and Tide played 8 matches against each other with Tacoma winning the derby 4-2-2.
I remember vividly the last Tacoma home match of just a few months ago. The playoffs and the division were on the line as the Tide hosted the Reds. Up in the stands the traveling contingent from Yakima included the owner, player wives, relatives and other fans. Even though the visitors went home that night with a loss, they knew they had played in a 'big match' and the fans knew they had traveled well.
Here's hoping that, much like the Shadow of Spokane eventually were brought back as the Spiders, Yakima sees soccer returning again as an oasis during its blazing summers.
I've added two new features to the three soccer blogs I post in. You can now subscribe easily to GOALSeattle, GOALTacoma and GOALKitsap blogs by clicking the menu in the top right corner on each blog.
You can now link your blog and show you follow these Puget Sound soccer blogs by using the "Follow" menu at the very bottom of all three blog's pages.
Being a soccer fan in our area completely rocks right now!
We've got Major League Soccer on the way in Seattle, PDL soccer on the way in Bremerton, and a very successful, fun to watch club wearing yellow in Tacoma.
If you ever want to send along any content, links or ideas for any of the blogs, just email me at goalseattle@gmail.com or post in the comments area.
The Geoducks of The Evergreen State College find themselves in a losing season in Men's Soccer. The guys are 1-5 with one score not yet posted. The gals are 1-5-1.
37 players came to The Soccer Center in Tacoma Friday night September 13 to try and earn a place on the 2008-2009 Tacoma Stars team. Head coach Greg Howes and assistant coach Teddy Mitalas choose 20 players to make up the initial player pool. The rosters for both the premier and reserve teams will be completed through a series of invitation only tryouts for college and professional players to be held before the start of the season in mid-December.
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