Shorelake Chargers Put Tournament Title On Line

Several scoops of chocolate and vanilla ice cream, heaps of bananas, lots of fudge, mounds of whipped cream and one cherry. But no matter what, don't add nuts.

Money may be the right performance bonus for professional ballplayers, but this banana split is the ultimate reward for 11-year-olds on the Shorelake Chargers soccer team.

It's a treat several players from Lake Forest Park, North City and Briarcrest elementary schools have gorged themselves on since the 15-player team was formed six years ago.

But dessert must wait.

Beginning next week, the Chargers will tackle the meat of their season: the Seattle Youth Soccer Association's city tournament.

For the past two years, the Chargers have won the trophy in the gold division tournament, for boys younger than 12. The gold division attracts the top players in the age bracket.

During the past three seasons, the Chargers have compiled a 44-3-1 record in divisional and tournament play.

With that reputation, more than a dozen teams from North King County and Seattle will be gunning for the Chargers when the double-elimination tournament begins.

``They hate us,'' said John Edwardsen, 11, whose father, Bob Edwardsen, coaches the team with Peter Ehrlichman.

Much of the Chargers' competition in the city tournament is likely to come from teams within the boys' own Shorelake youth soccer club. The club plays most of its games at the new Shoreline Center's fields.

In last year's tournament, three other Shorelake teams - the Hawks, Streaks and Thunderhawks - placed second, third and fourth.

Such success has been a big confidence-booster for the players.

``It makes me proud to be a Charger and what we can do,'' said Kerry Wake.

Said Sally Tenney, a parent, ``It's amazing to think that five years ago these were just a bunch of reasonably athletic, but physically immature boys. Now you can just see the added level of confidence.''

That confidence is visible when the boys display the championship patches on sleeves of their green-and-gold jackets.

The boys credit their success represented by those patches to their coaches, some older brothers who play high-school soccer, and several mothers who are active in soccer.

``Our moms play together on a team and they like to play with us,'' said Kyle Bozick.

Said Paul Tenney of the mothers' team, ``They're OK, I guess.'' He added in a hushed voice, ``I hope they didn't hear that.''

Travis Hartman believes the Chargers win because Ehrlichman and Edwardsen make the boys run so much during practice.

Tenney said the coaches plot strategy for practices several nights a week. Coaching isn't the only thing that bonds Ehrlichman and Edwardsen. They are next-door neighbors and attended Bellevue High School, where they were ``probably the two worst guys the Bellevue High swim team has ever seen,'' said Ehrlichman.

In the coaches' youth, there were no local soccer leagues. They compensate for that by supervising practice for the Chargers three nights a week, leading up to the Sunday matches. The players - including Frank Baker, Mark Bordner, Matthew Ehrlichman, Owen Garmire, J.D. Giles, Travis Hart, Mark Major, Eric Peterson and David Robison - respect that work ethic.

``Rain or snow, we always come to practice,'' said Marshall Wake. ``We've never cut a practice.''

The boys hope these practices pay off with another trophy and maybe a banana split between next week and Dec. 22, when the tournament championship is played.

``I remember when we were playing in our first championship,'' said Carl Davis. ``I passed it to Matthew (Ehrlichman) and he had a header so we won it 1-0 in overtime. Because I had the assist, I got a banana split. I'll never forget it.''