Matt Hulen is helping Seattle Wolves FC stay in the PCSL race. (Photo from indoor season by Barbie Hull)
from the Seattle Wolves FC
Over the coming weeks the Seattle Wolves FC will compete in several exciting matches with important league standing implications. The Wolves are currently competing in three league competitions: the Pacific Coast Soccer League (semi-professional), the Starfire Premier Soccer League (SPSL) Premier Division (amateur) and the SPSL First Division (amateur). In all three leagues, the Wolves are in the hunt for the title of league champion. Below are the club's upcoming matches in the PCSL.
Pacific Coast Soccer League – Semi-Professional: With Sunday's draw, Khalsa Sporting Club of Coquitlam, BC was allowed to jump into 3rd place. The Wolves are currently in 4th place with 8 matches to play. This weekend the Wolves travel to Coquitlam and Victoria, British Columbia to face the 3rd and 2nd place teams, respectively.
June 28, 2:30pm @ Khalsa Sporting Club – Coquitlam, BC
June 29, 2:30pm @ Victoria United – Victoria, BC
July 5, 7:00pm v. Khalsa Sporting Club – Starfire Sports Stadium, Tukwila, WA
July 6, 2:00pm @ Vancouver Thunderbirds – Vancouver, BC
Three leagues, three titles?
With all three league titles on the line in the coming weeks, the Seattle Wolves will be battling for something not very commonly thought of in United States Soccer – the Treble! – albeit an untraditional treble. If the Seattle Wolves can win the Pacific Coat Soccer League, SPSL Premier and First Division crowns all in the same season, it would be quite the accomplishment.
When asked for comment, Wolves' players and staff had this to say:
"Usually trebles are reserved for teams competing in three prestigious competitions at the same time, but there are few opportunities to do this in American soccer. The fact that the Seattle Wolves FC sits in good position to play for three championships this season, is quite exciting." – Clay Walton-House
Clay has 2 goal and 2 assists in 7 matches played within the PCSL this season. His lone goal was a very important one, as it put the Wolves ahead in Surrey this past weekend.
"The club has been busy this Spring/Summer. We've had several league and cup schedules ongoing at the same time, in addition to playing a challenging friendly schedule. Every time the Wolves take the field, we aim to win. Taking each match one at a time, that is what has allowed us to get into this position." – Donald Bressler.
Donald has cemented himself as an important part of the Wolves' PCSL defensive line. With impressive performances versus the PSSA Rapids and in Surrey, Bressler will no doubt factor into the results at Khalsa and Victoria this weekend.
"Both of our SPSL squads have demonstrated themselves as offensive threats and defensive walls. The old saying goes 'If you don't score, you can't win'. We have added 'Even if you score once or twice, you won't score enough to beat us'." – Ryan Oxford
The SPSL Premier squad has scored 33 goals, and given up 6, in 7 matches. The SPSL 1st division squad has scored 22 goals, and given up 6, in 6 matches. These represent the best goal differentials in the divisions by 13 and 5 goals, respectively. Ryan has 3 goals and 4 assists in 6 matches for the SPSL Premier side.
"We have a lot of work to do! True, we are sitting in a position where we could win all three, but it will be extremely difficult. The SPSL sides have 3 must win matches, and the PCSL squad is currently 6 points off clip. We can make up some valuable ground this weekend. We proved we can play with the best last weekend. Let's see how the boys respond this weekend. It's tough to win on the road! Especially in Victoria." – Andrew Opatkiewicz, General Manager
It's true the Wolves have a lot of work ahead of them, the SPSL Premier side must defeat FK Pacific and the SPSL First division side must win its upcoming matches to make up ground with FC Porto. As for the PCSL side, coach Alex Weaver put it best when he said "The next two weeks will answer a lot of questions. Most importantly it will answer if we have what it takes to compete for a championship at this level. After the final whistle blows in Victoria on Sunday, I think we will know."
To keep up with all Seattle Wolves scores, fixtures and stories, visit SeattleWolvesFC.com
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While it would be accurate to say that the Wolves were competing for a treble at one point in the season, I think it would be slightly different than the one mentioned in this post. A more true treble would be the PCSL league title, the PCSL cup (contested by the top 4 teams in the final PCSL standings) and the SPSL Premier title. The PCSL league title and the PCSL cup are truly separate competitions with separate trophies, and would constitute a "PCSL Double" such as Victoria United won last year (albeit with a dubious cup semifinal victory over FK Pacific). You could then argue that the SPSL Premier title could add to this and make a treble, as the Wolves SPSL Premier side shares at least most of its players with the PCSL side. However, it is also worth consideration that the SPSL is an American-style league like MLS, where finishing top of the league table only really matters for playoff seeding. The champions of SPSL (and the PSSL that was its forerunner) are crowned based on the playoffs at the end of the season, and I would not call topping the SPSL table and winning the SPSL playoffs a "double"-- though it is interesting how rarely the team that tops the PSSL/SPSL table wins the playoffs. At any rate, I would not consider the Wolves first-division side part of a potential "treble" as it is really an entirely different (in fact reserve) team than the PCSL and SPSL Premier teams.
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