Wolves draw with Seattle U in pre-season match

Our weekly Seattle Wolves FC Update

article by Liviu Bird

Saturday at Championship Field, Seattle Wolves Football Club and Seattle University played a friendly, which ended in a 0-0 draw. Seattle U had already played a match that day, against Seattle Pacific, whom they defeated. With the Wolves losing to SPU last weekend, this match looked to be a tougher test for the new PCSL club.

The Wolves got through the SU defense several times, with Vinicius Oliveira, Steve Spencer, and Matt Hulen all coming close to scoring. On the other side, the Wolves defenders were tested several times but proved to be up to the task. Goalkeeper Brian Gullikson's best save of the day was an effort from an SU forward inside the six yard box that Gullikson threw himself in front of to stop in the closing minutes of the match.

This was not a bad result for either team. SU will be happy that they managed to go undefeated twice in the same day, and the Wolves will be happy that their performance improved considerably in a week. However, the trouble for SWFC continues to be the lack of finishing, which will surely be addressed this week when new Technical Director, Alex Weaver, takes up his post.

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The PCSL season is less than 2 weeks away, and with the arrival of Technical Director, Alex Weaver, the Wolves will announce their pre-season 25-man roster by the end of the week. This roster will be subject to change during the season depending on player performance and injuries.

The Wolves will receive several players from the University of Washington, Seattle U and Seattle Pacific University to round out their Summer Player Pool. Beginning this week, some of these players will be out of their collegiate Spring seasons, and available to begin training with the Wolves.

"Obviously this is a less than ideal situation for the club", commented Wolves Reserve Team Head Coach, Ryan Dortch, when asked how the continual flux of new players into the system will affect the Wolves performance on the field. He continued, "In an ideal world, we would have had all of our Summer players from the beginning, and would have more than 2 weeks to gel the college players with the players that have been in the club for longer. But this is just one of the challenges the club faces in developing the best talent in the area, many of which are playing soccer at school. It will be a long, exciting and intense Summer season, and the boys will have plenty of time to gel."

The pipeline works both ways. Wolves M/D Enis Isufi is one player who has already benefitted by the relationship that the Wolves are building with local colleges. Isufi intends to attend and play soccer at Seattle Pacific University in the fall. Last Saturday's match gave SPU head coach Mark Collings the chance to see Enis in a match, playing against some of his best current talent.

On May 10th, the Wolves will travel to Whatcom Community College in Bellingham to play their first PCSL match versus the PSSA Rapids. And, on Saturday May 17th, the Wolves will host Victoria United at the Starfire Stadium in Tukwila (7:00pm) in their home opener. Visit SeattleWolvesFC.com for ticket information, and the Wolves entire Summer schedule.

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This weekend, the Wolves will continue to prepare for PCSL and USASA action as they take on the Seattle Americans in SPSL Premier action, 9pm, Starfire Stadium, Saturday May 3rd.

The Americans are one of the best amateur teams in the area, and have beaten the Wolves' SPSL Premier squad the last two times the teams met. This should be an entertaining match, and a chance to see some of the Wolves new PCSL and USASA faces.

On Sunday, May 4th, 7:00pm, the Wolves' SPSL 1st division squad will take on SPSL new-comers, U-District United. After 2 weeks off from SPSL action, the Wolves' Reserves have rested injuries and will look to improve upon the 3-2 defeat that the team suffered at the hands of FC Porto the last time they took the field. Although U-District is somewhat of an unknown entity, the Wolves will need to improve their defensive shape, and tenacity in the box, in order to be satisfied with their result.

For complete Wolves' SPSL, PCSL and USASA schedules, visit SeattleWolvesFC.com.