Two Soccer Teams Join Elite -- Shorecrest United Joins Americans In Under-19 League

John Shifflette and his Seattle Americans' teammates feel a little like big brothers to Cinderella. But, unlike the fairy tale, they're glad Cinderella gets to go to the ball.

The Americans and Shorelake United will compete in the Under-19 Premier Division I league in the fall, the top level for youth soccer in the state. It's the first time in eight years that two Seattle-based teams have qualified for the top league.

The teams, which qualified in a tournament earlier this month, will join Shorelake United and the Seattle Americans join the Federal Way Wings, Highline Heat, the North County Alliance, Columbia United, Lake Washington United and the Spokane River City Steelers in the league.

The Americans have played in that league for six of the past 10 years. For them to play with the eight best teams in the state is no surprise. Last year, there were 20 teams ranked ahead of Shorelake United.

"They're like our little brothers," said Shifflette, who attends O'Dea and plays midfield and forward. "They're our second team - most of them came to our tryouts back in April. We're glad they made it."

For Shorelake United, a team made up mostly of players from Shorecrest and Shorewood high schools, leaping to the elite eight is heady stuff.

"We were really surprised," said Lee Padal, a midfielder from Shorecrest High School who played his first game for Shorelake United in the tournament.

"They were calling us the Cinderellas of the qualifying tournament. People were giving us a hard time, saying we had the easiest draw in the tournament, but we worked hard to get in there and we beat a team that was Division I last year."

In the hierarchy of youth soccer in the state, Premier Division I and Division II take the top 16 teams, eight per division. Everyone else plays district soccer.

Last year, Shorelake United reached the quarterfinals of the state tournament at the district level. To jump over the four teams that finished ahead of them in their own tournament and the eight teams that played Division II soccer last year is a leap that left Matt Brunson, 21, the second-year coach of Shorelake United, astounded.

"These guys have always been good soccer players, but we had some players on the team last year that weren't as serious about playing as some of the rest of the guys," he said. "They quit after last year and we replaced them with some players who really wanted to play."

Brunson recruited four players from the Sting, the team that won the district state title, after that team disbanded. Jason Spurr, Strojan Kennison, Brett Turner and Melvin Hiede gave Brunson the drive he felt the team was lacking.

"I think when our guys saw how much these guys wanted to win, they picked their game up a level," Brunson said. "It was as if they saw that it was OK to go for it."

Shorelake scored 14 goals in three games in the tournament. Spurr accounted for eight of those goals, Brunson said.

The last time there was more than one Seattle team in the top Under-19 league, two of them met for the championship. No one is predicting a title clash between the teams from the Shorelake Soccer Club.

"They'll be in awe for the first couple of games," Shifflette said of Shorelake United. "But after a couple games, they'll start to get into the game a little bit.

"At this level, there are no weak players like there are on most high school teams. We play more of a tapping game instead of a hitting game and it's much faster. And the tackling is much more aggressive. They'll be looking for the calls they used to get and it just won't be there."

Dan Arriola, a forward who commutes from Marysville to play with the Seattle Americans, said having both teams in the top league will be mutually beneficial.

The teams share a practice field on Tuesday and Thursday nights and frequently scrimmage.

"They'll push us and make us better and we'll help them improve," Arriola said.

Both teams will play scrimmage games and plan to play several tournaments over the summer, including the Shorelake Invitational July 13 and 14 - a tourney that will feature 10 top U-19 teams.

The rosters:

-- Seattle Americans Under-19 - Dan Arriola, forward, Marysville-Pilchuck; Mike Berg, midfield, Roosevelt; Chris Blonk, midfield, Meadowdale; Vail Borne, midfield, Edmonds-Woodway; Dennis Boser, defender, Lynnwood; Tyler Cufley, midfielder, Woodinville; Rob Felton, forward, Blanchet; Wade Foley, midfielder, Inglemoor; Ben Gaffney, defender, Seattle Prep; Jon Jacobsen, defender, Shorecrest; Scott Kertson, forward, Woodinville; Andy Klubberud, goalkeeper, Seattle Prep; Lang Nelson, defender, Cascade; Keith Pennock, defender, Lynnwood; Marc Perry, midfielder, Woodinville; Richie Sclafani, midfielder, Roosevelt; John Shifflette, forward/midfielder, O'Dea; Rob Swift, forward, Redmond. Coach: Drew Thompson. Assistants: Mike Mikkelsen, Bill Muller. -- Shorelake United - Chris Lowry, midfield, Shorecrest; Bill Sanders, midfield, Shorecrest; Jon Cottons, defender, Shorecrest; Ryan Murphy, defender, Shorecrest; Chad Vaughn, defender, Shorecrest; Dave Perry, forward, Shorecrest; Steve Randall, goalkeeper, Shorecrest; Jason Spurr, midfield, Woodinville; Strojan Kennison, forward, Woodinville; Brett Turner, midfield, Edmonds-Woodway; Lee Padal, midfield, Shorecrest; Lucas Davis, forward, Shorecrest; Ken Harjo, defender, Meadowdale; Chris Harlowe, midfield, Shorecrest; Jason Blair, midfield, Tolt; Melvin Hiede, forward, Shorewood; Mark Weller, defender, Shorecrest. Coach: Matt Brunson.