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

Auburn hopes to score with soccer

Yes, but will they eat at "Big Daddy's" before or after?

The December 31st Tacoma News Tribune talks about an Auburn city plan to build an indoor soccer arena in their downtown area.


Can soccer moms – not to mention dads and youths – help kick-start downtown economic development?

That’s the hope of Auburn city officials, who are looking for a qualified developer to build an indoor youth soccer facility on a block of downtown property.

The city already owns most of the block and is willing to sell or lease it.

The connection between indoor soccer and economic development seems logical, said Auburn Mayor Pete Lewis, who is leading the city’s efforts to revitalize the downtown area.

“We’ve been looking at indoor youth sports,” he explained. “We want something for kids downtown … that can bring soccer moms downtown.”

Soccer parents mean foot traffic, and downtowns thrive on people who shop, walk and eat there, according to Dave Baron, the city’s economic development manager.

Stars dimmed in home opener

It is a short 10-game season in the PASL Northwest Division, but for the Tacoma Stars it already looks like it's going to be a long year.

Tacoma had no defense in their road opener in December 1st, giving up 12 goals and drawing Troutdale 24-24 under the new MISL scoring system.

Last night the Stars played their first home match and were outplayed by the Wenatchee Fire who came away with a 13-9 win (6 goals to 4).

Tacoma never led in the game and two 4th quarter tallies insured the visitor's victory.

So what's 'wrong' with this year's Stars? Lots of new faces, and so far anyway, a tendency to give the ball away too easily and not help each other on team defense.

About 200 fans showed up at the Tacoma Soccer Center. Tacoma is now 0-1-1 after two matches with 1 standings point.

The Stars will try for their first win on Saturday January 5th when they host the Central Oregon Steelheaders at the Tacoma Soccer Center at 7:00 PM. Admission is $5 for adults, $3 for kids, 10 years or under get in free.

A few more home opener photos from GOALTacoma.com start HERE.
View the Stars season schedule HERE.

PASL brings Northwest rivalries indoors

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.

Stars about to kick off at the Tacoma Soccer Center.

I will remain firmly behind the Tacoma Stars this year, despite the debut of a Seattle club chock full of Sounders.

The Stars are coached by Evergreen State head coach John Purtteman, who once played for the Seattle Seadogs. Their roster will be filled with local talent as they try to defend their regular season division crown.

PASL Links
GOALSeattle.com Indoor Soccer Forum
Seattle Wolves
Tacoma Stars
Bellingham Rapids
Snohomish Skyhawks
Wenatchee Fire
ArenaLeague.com
Tacoma Stars photos
Seattle Seawolves of 2006 photos

Big Strides For Tide In Second Season

Ciaran O'Brien, All-League for TFC.
Jenni Conner/GOALTacoma.com photo.

It was a very memorable second campaign for Tacoma Tide FC. The club won 10 matches, qualified for the playoffs, drew nearly double the amount of fans they did the first (regular) season, and put a player on the All-League First Team.

Ciaran O'Brien came with new coach and papa Fran O'Brien. What a great package deal for TFC. Fran shaped up the squad and son Ciaran made PDL All-League with his dangerous free kicks, assists and team lead-tieing seven goals.

The Tide drew over 1,000 fans when they hosted the Seattle Sounders on July 7th. That total ensured a big jump in attendance from 2006. Even without the Sounders match the Tide had a big increase. Tacoma averaged 108 fans per match last year in PDL play, and 200 in 2007. Add in the Sounders match and attendance for all Tide matches was 2,604, an average of 289 and an increase of over 200%.

The Tide played exceptionally well at Curtis High School's Viking Field. Tacoma went undefeated at home in 2007 with 7 wins and 1 draw in league to go along with the 2:2 friendly draw with Seattle.

Home league highlights included beating the division champion BYU Cougars 2-0 and qualifying for the playoffs with a 5-0 thrashing of Yakima.

Hosting the Sounders brought more people out to see TFC and the club responded with a great performance, losing the win only in the last few moments and ending up drawing the USL-1 powerhouse Seattle team 2:2.

The Tide were disappointed to see their playoff run end early in Fresno against the Fuego. The match was 1:1 going into overtime before the Tide fell 4:1.

TFC are already looking forward to 2008. They'll be active in the off-season drumming up more support. Also watch for the debut of a new club crest that incorporates the name "Tide," and the birth of the first TFC mascot, tentatively called "Riptide."

We've updated our Tide Museum Page for 2007.