Wolves edge northern state rivals

Starfire Sports, Tukwila WA – June 18, 2008, 7:30pm

The Pacific Coast Soccer League newcomer Seattle Wolves FC, 4-2-2 4th place, hosted their Washington state rivals, the PSSA Rapids, 5-2-1 3rd place, from Bellingham on Wednesday evening at the Starfire Sports Complex in Tukwila.

The two teams faced off in Bellingham in their first match on the PCSL season, May 10th, drawing 3-3, in an entertaining match, which saw 3 lead changes and renewed the rivalry between these two teams that was begun in the 2007-2008 Premier Arena Soccer League season.

The Wolves knew going into Wednesday's match that it would be a very important one to secure maximum points from, as they have 3 matches with 1st and 2nd place Surrey United and Victoria United upcoming.

The first 15 minutes of the match was a back-and-forth affair, with both sides struggling to gain a grip on the match. Fairly open, the match saw several early scoring chances on both sides of the ball, but it wasn't until the 33rd minute that the scoreless draw would be broken. A forward run by Wolves' right back, Brandon Sprague (#8), produced a lofted ball in the box which evaded clearance and met forward, Mark Williams (#12), at the back post. Williams headed the ball past PSSA goal keeper, Mike Lockwood, and into the far-post side netting for his team-leading fourth goal of the season, and the Wolves took the lead going into half-time.

Going into the second half, the Wolves substituted 18 year old, Kohl Schoening (#14), for veteran Wolves' player, Clay Walton-House (#21), and pushed Ian Walsh (#15) upfront to run the point. The substitution proved valuable, as seemingly every ball served forward in the air was won by the powerful Walsh, who controlled the tempo of the match upfront, and held possession for the Wolves in the second half.

In the 86th minute, assisted by Walsh, Wolves' winger, Thiago Silva (#22), made a penetrating run into the right side of the penalty box and slotted home his second goal of the season, and the Wolves' second goal of the match.

That goal would prove to be the game winner, as a 90th minute goal by the Rapids Rob Schaper drew them within one. The match ended 2-1 in favor of the Wolves, pushing them into 3rd place in the PCSL Premier standings, 2 points in front of PSSA, but 4 points behind 2nd place, Victoria United, and 10 points behind league-leaders, Surrey United, who have played 2 more matches than the Wolves.

The Wolves face the potent offense of 1st place Surrey United this Sunday at the Cloverdale Athletic Park in Surrey, BC. Kick-off is a 2:30pm.

Wednesday night the Wolves left the Starfire grounds with their heads high, as they won an intense contest with impressive defense and two nice goals. Seattle coach, Alex Weaver, commented on the Wolves' performance thus far in the PCSL season, saying "I'm pleased to see the work that we are doing in training paying off in important games. The players are very receptive and deserve a lot of credit for learning my system of play. However, we have a massive test against some very good teams coming up. Surrey and Victoria United are setting the standard in the division so we need to continue to be mentally strong as we did tonight in order to compete. I think we are a little way off those two teams currently but I would like to think we will give it a good go up there in the next week. The game against Surrey will be a great test for my players, before another huge weekend against Khalsa and Victoria United next week."

For more information on the Seattle Wolves Football club Pacific Coast Soccer League squad and other Wolves competitions, news and scores, visit SeattleWolvesFC.com . To listen to a broadcast of the PCSL match versus the PSSA Rapids, visit SeattleSoccerShow.com .