All-Area Boys Soccer

All-Area Boys Soccer

The Natural

* Meadowdale’s Eric Marty would rather score goals than stop shots on goal, but his selfless sacrifice to change positions for the good of his team led to a state title and earned him The Herald’s All-Area Player of the Year honor.

First team

ForwardSolly GoldMeadowdale

ForwardA.J. GonzalesSultan

ForwardTaylor CochranLake Stevens

ForwardBrayton KnappSultan

MidfielderGeorge JohnShorewood

MidfielderJustin AbelSnohomish

MidfielderJosh SwettMeadowdale

MidfielderAlex SirotakSnohomish

DefenderGage GalleSultan

DefenderChad McGeeSouth Whidbey

DefenderDrew MackShorewood

DefenderColin KoscoMeadowdale

GoalkeeperEric MartyMeadowdale

By Aaron Coe

Herald Writer

LYNNWOOD – For two seasons, Eric Marty took one for the team.

He played out of position, passing up glory for anonymity. Well, plenty of people know who the goalkeeper is when he makes a mistake.

In the end, it meant a state championship for the Meadowdale High School boys soccer team.

The 2003 Meadowdale soccer season seemingly ended before it began. Much of the reason for Mavericks coach Darrell Hamilton’s optimism flew out the window when promising freshman goalkeeper Nick Tasche broke an arm the day before Meadowdale’s first practice.

That’s when the coach approached Marty, because Hamilton had seen one of his forwards, as Marty puts it, “goofing around in the goal a few times.”

Marty, a should-have-been scoring machine, was suddenly the one facing all the shots. In a span of 15 months, he went from stop-gap to the best soccer player in the area – maybe even the state – at his unnatural position. And, he’s The Herald’s All-Area Player of the Year.

“I love to score goals and all that,” said Marty, who made two difficult saves late in the 3-2 overtime victory over Mount Rainier in the Class 3A state championship game. “But, I’d much rather have a chance to win a state championship.”

Mix in athletic ability, unquestioned leadership and a fierce desire to own the goal box, and you’ve got yourself a goalie. Marty led the Mavericks to a stunning third-place finish last year during Meadowdale’s first state playoff appearance in 23 years and was the major reason the Mavericks won it all this season.

“He ruled the box,” said Hamilton, whose team shut out 13 of 23 opponents this season. “That 18-yard box, he didn’t let anybody take advantage of what was going on.”

Marty, who played quarterback on the Meadowdale football team and will play the same position in the fall at Division III Chapman University in Orange, Calif., went from unnatural to natural during his final two seasons of high school soccer. He stopped three penalty kicks – a rare feat to say the least – in the semifinal shootout victory over Meadowdale. He used hands resembling glue traps to take shots and crosses out of the air and directed the defense in front of him to minimize opponents’ chances.

“He meant everything to us,” said midfielder Josh Swett, whose team finished the season 20-2-1. “Pretty much, when he was playing goalie we weren’t going to lose.”

Marty did find his way onto the offensive end of the field this season. With Tasche recovered from surgery that wiped out his entire freshman season, the two goalies split most of the regular-season games. The tandem proved successful. The Mavericks won the Western Conference South Division with an 8-1 record. Though he spent more than half of his time in goal this season, Marty managed the fourth-best combination of goals (seven) and assists (six) on the team. When the postseason rolled around, however, it was time to put Marty back in the box. He played in goal full-time during three district and four state playoff games. With solid scoring threats Solly Gold and Aaron Roberts up front, the team needed Marty to stop goals more than score them.

His team was grateful for their unselfish hero.

“It was crazy,” Swett said of Marty’s willingness to put the team ahead of his own statistics. “He’s proven in previous years that he can score goals at will. It was great that he did that, but he’s always been that kind of a guy.”

When the Mavericks take a look at the state championship trophy in the Meadowdale case, the first thing they will think of is Eric Marty’s sacrifice.

“Everybody on the team respects him,” Hamilton said. “He made us better in a lot of ways. He made me a better coach.”