Curated by the Washington State Legends of Soccer, providing information and history of the Beautiful Game in Washington State. Just as the game evolves, so will this site. We continuously add new content, so be sure to return often.
Attendance plummets below 10,000 for a regular season game for the first time in nine seasons, with just 4,954 for a lackluster Easter afternoon scoreless draw with San Jose. Ultimately the visitors win in a shootout. At one point the Earthquakes play shorthanded for five minutes before putting a jersey on backup goalkeeper Billy Phillips and asking him to play defender. It’s the first back-to-back scoreless outings to start season since 1977.
For the first time, the University of Washington athletics budget includes scholarship aid for soccer. The funds are made possible through the cooperation of AD Joe Kearney. Among coach Mike Ryan’s first scholarship recruits are Ron Johnson, a California junior college all-American center back and Ken Garrett, a top scorer in British Columbia junior ranks from Abbotsford.
Camas completes an unblemished campaign by the slimmest of margins, getting the shootout decision to lift the 4A girls' state trophy at Sparks Stadium in Puyallup. The Papermakers (22-0-0) get two penalty saves from Keely Wieczorek to prevail over perennial contender Issaquah, 0-0 (4-2). Following a scoreless regulation and overtime, Norah Melcher delivers the decisive shootout conversion. Camas has 17-3 shot advantage since halftime and wins its second 4A and third title overall. Issaquah becomes a six-time runner-up, last winning in 2017.
Roger Levesque provides the finishing touches and a memorable celebration to the Sounders' 4-2 victory over New York to send a big crowd home happy. Seattle opens the entire upper deck of Qwest Field for the first time for an MLS match, and the attendance of 46,065 is nearly 10,000 greater than any previous MLS home match. Levesque subs after the Red Bulls' tying goal and has an immediate impact, heading in a 67th-minute corner kick. He seals the win at 78' by stealing the ball from New York goalkeeper Greg Sutton, knocking it into an empty net and enacting a scuba dive off the signage board.
A fan favorite since becoming the starting goalkeeper three years earlier, Tony Chursky is traded by the Seattle Sounders to the California Surf in exchange for U.S. National Team star midfielder Al Trost and the rights to Ray Evans. Chursky is also the team's union representative. In another move in a roster rebuild, John Ryan and Frank Barton come in from Norwich City and Bournemouth, respectively, and John Impey and Jimmy Neighbour arrive on loan. They join newcomer Alan Hudson and the return of veteran goalkeeper Mike Ivanow.
Athletes in Action explores bringing an ASL franchise back to Tacoma. AIA, a worldwide Campus Crusade for Christ organization, would put the team back in the new $28M mini-dome, to open in 1983, but are considering interim sites such as Stadium Bowl, Lincoln Bowl and Baker Stadium. The ASL Tides lasted just the 1976 season at Cheney Stadium. After meeting with Tacoma Mayor Mike Parker, AIA team director Rich Hay says, “We would like to be the first team to put in a farm system, with not just one but a whole series of teams, so that we could hone and develop our own players.”