Dorian Lair comes to practice prepared for the spotlight.
Which is to say, other than his coach, Lair is the only Shorewood soccer player that shows up to practice wearing sunglasses.
When you’re a dual-sport athlete that excels both on the football field and the soccer pitch, it’s an understandable fashion statement on a sunny day.
It’s April 23, and Shorewood is trying to hold practice at Einstein Middle School. Fittingly, in a season that has already had a few bumps in the road for the Thunderbirds, things get started slightly late: The team isn’t practicing at its usual location because they’ve had to make way for a track meet at the high school.
Lair is Shorewood’s goal keeper. Now a senior, Lair has played varsity soccer since he was a freshman. On the football field, Lair was a running back and a kicker, and also played in the secondary. As senior, he was an honorable mention to the Wesco South football all-star team and made second team defense as a placekicker.
Football, Lair explained, is fun, but he takes soccer more seriously when it comes to thinking about playing after high school.
Shorewood head coach Mark Wisdom understands why.
“He pulls off some amazing saves,” Wisdom said. “It’s always nice to be playing an opponent and have them go, wow.”
Not that the killer instinct required in football doesn’t rub off on the way he plays soccer.
“Oh yeah, (I like to play aggressive),” Lair said.
The biggest attraction about Lair, though, is his leg. He can boot the ball down field. One second a team is threatening to score on Shorewood, and the next Lair has sent the ball back deep into the opponent’s territory. It’s sort of an Ace-in-the-Hole for Shorewood.
“He’s probably one of the best,” Wisdom said of Lair. “And right behind him I’d put (Mountlake Terrace keeper) Ben Winters.”
Wisdom then relates a story of a high school announcer who told Wisdom he’d pay money for the opportunity to watch Lair and Winters square off. Coming from someone that watches soccer games for free, it’s a high compliment.
Lair was a big part of Shorewood’s surprising success last year, when the Thunderbirds finished first in the Wesco South.
“His confidence can look cocky (but it’s because) he’s good at what he does and it rubs off on the guys,” Wisdom said.
When asked to name his biggest high school accomplishment though, Lair is all about the team, and points to last year’s unexpected run to 4A state.
“Last year’s run, going 16-1-1 (stands out) in my whole high school career,” Lair said. “My freshman and sophomore years we finished third or fourth, my junior year we came out with a bang.”
Lair, who said he’d like to eventually study architecture, isn’t sure where he’ll play next year. He’s applied to some local schools and is also hopeful Shoreline Community College will offer him a scholarship.
Like any competitive athlete, he enjoys the rivalry between Shorewood and Shorecrest. And he isn’t going to let the fact he plays club soccer on Emerald City FC with a lot of Shorecrest’s players stand in the way of that.
Lair said the Emerald City FC team that went to the state final in the off season included Shorecrest captains Nick Terrel and Garrett Musar as well as keeper Victor Casarez and midfielder Jeremy Novack.
“They’re our cross-town rivals,” Lair says of the upcoming match on May 1. “(When the game starts) I dislike them.”
“Even though he’s friends with half the team,” Wisdom added.
Shorewood defeated Shorecrest 1-0 earlier this year in a non league game, but things have changed since then. Shorewood has had a spat of injuries, and the Thunderbirds tied or lost their first four league games.
Which means Lair and Shorewood are learning how to keep a positive attitude right now.
“Right now we’re in a tough place… After the first (league) game, we got stuck on the negatives,” said Lair, who admitted he was getting frustrated.
But things are changing for the better on that front.
“Coming off (this past) Tuesday (a 2-1 loss to Mountlake Terrace), the next day we had the most fun practice of the year,” Lair said.
It might not be a coincidence that Shorewood won its first league game of the season the Friday after that practice.
“I just like hanging out with the team,” Lair said. “We like to mess around sometimes … It makes me happy.”
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