King’s soccer squad starting to generate buzz

SHORELINE

King’s boys soccer coach Ben Somoza is cautious about making any predictions on how well King’s new soccer program will do this year.

Last fall, the girls soccer team took third at the 1A state tournament in its inaugural season.

Now it’s the boys’ turn to see what they can accomplish in 1A.

“I definitely think there’s an excitement, a buzz among the kids,” Somoza said.

King’s is known for its first-class athletic programs and it got off to the right foot with the hiring of Somoza. A midfielder for the Seattle Sounders, he brings a lot of passion for the game. The 1998 graduate of Edmonds-Woodway High School starred there and then went on to a standout career at the University of Washington. He went pro, playing one year for the Portland Timbers before coming back to Seattle to play for the Sounders, his team for the past four years.

The Knights only have three seniors on the team and half the team is freshmen and sophomores.

“We have an extremely young team, a lot of freshmen on the roster who will be getting a lot of playing time,” Somoza said. “We’ll see how much they adapt.”

King’s will run a four defender, four midfielder and two forward lineup. The roster includes about five players who play Premier-1 level club soccer.

Junior Michael Kenyon and senior Christian Freiberg patrol the midfield from the center positions. Sophomore Brett Simons is the featured striker. Sophomore Alex Masaki anchors the defense. Senior Sean Webb starts in goal, with sophomore Anthony Ulskey serving as the backup.

When asked whether the team’s strengths lie in its offense or defense, Somoza said it’s too early to tell.

“I think everything’s unknown at this point. It will be a trial for all of us,” Somoza said. “Until we get going into the year I couldn’t answer that question.”

Somoza said he’ll have to see how the Knights’ abilities translate from the practice pitch to Cascade Conference games.

“In a game environment that’s when you start to see everything in a player,” he said. “I like the core group of guys we have. I definitely think there’s a great skill level in the bunch we have.

“All I ever ask out of the guys is that they work as hard as they can,” Somoza said. “Everything else will fall into place. That’s the most important thing to me as a group.”