Blokkers Put Kick In Sting

In Everett, the sting of the North County Under-23 Olympic Development soccer team will come from the Blokker family.

The father, Bill Blokker, is the coach of the Everett Sting. Eldest son Kevin, who plays for the University of San Francisco, is the team's goaltender; and son Scott is a defender who plays for Southern Methodist University.

"I organized the team and got my dad to coach," Kevin said. "If you look down the roster, you'll see a lot of guys from Cascade High School."

The Blokker brothers each were two-time All-Western Conference AAA players and each played in three state Class AAA championship games for the Cascade Bruins.

Also on the team are Cascade veterans Rick Frederking (now with Skagit Valley College), T.J. Weighter (Skagit Valley), Josh Evans (newly graduated), Mark Kirkpatrick (Skagit Valley), Willie Franklin (San Diego State), and Aaron Harrington (who will be a senior).

The NCAA ruled this year that collegiate soccer players could not play in recreational or summer league soccer programs unless they were considered premier (a designation for top amateur teams) or part of the Olympic Development program.

The Washington State Under-23 Olympic Development program, in which the North County Sting plays, fits both classifications. The 10-team league features two teams from Federal Way plus teams from Seattle, Bellevue, Tacoma, Bellingham, Renton, Spokane and North Kitsap. The teams play league games on Sundays throughout the summer.

The Seattle Americans, coached by Shorecrest High School Coach Teddy Mitalas, is made up mostly of players from the University of Washington and Seattle Pacific University, most of whom live in the North King/South Snohomish County area. The team is a three-time league champion.

"The league is going to be very tough this year," Mitalas said. "Last year, we kind of walked through the league and won the championship. We were winning games last year by scores of 8-0. This year, it's going to be a lot tougher.

"North County is going to be a very good team and the rest of the league is really coming on strong. Federal Way is going to be a tough team and Spokane is really coming around."

Seattle is 2-0 in league, having defeated Tacoma 2-0 and Bellevue 4-0. Sunday, it plays one of the Federal Way teams. North County won its only game thus far, topping Bellingham 2-1.

The leading scorer for the Seattle Americans is Jason Farrell, who played for Mitalas at Shorecrest and now plays for the University of Washington. Farrell will play for the Far West team in the upcoming Olympic Festival.

"Jason has a real nose for the goal," Mitalas said. "He really is a prolific goal-scorer."

Farrell fell under the watchful eye of former U.S. National team coach Bob Gansler while in Colorado Springs for the Olympic Festival tryout camp. Gansler, now an assistant coach with the Olympic team, liked the offensive moves he saw and took Farrell aside to offer him an invitation to the Olympic tryout camp, Mitalas said.

Joining Farrell on the Seattle team are former Cascade players Noel Solderblom and Doug Morrill, former Marysville-Pilchuck players Brent Aune and Shannon Murry, and former Monroe standout Tim Babcock, all of whom play for the University of Washington Soccer Dogs.

North County has 11 players from Division I college teams.

In addition to the Blokker brothers, Todd Woodhouse, a Bothell graduate, and Greg Vandenburg, who played at Edmonds Community College, play for the University of San Francisco, Willie Franklin (Cascade) is at San Diego State, Shay Goedell and O'Dea graduate Chris Scotti are at Oregon State, Redmond graduates Brandon Schmidt and Bruce Broughton play at Santa Clara, and Ryan Craig plays for Amherst.

"Most schools would be lucky to see one player a year go to play for a Division I soccer program," Kevin Blokker said. "But Cascade has players playing all across the country. Clint Carnell plays for Duke, and his brother Matt is going to Furman on the East Coast. My brother plays at SMU and the Henderson brothers (Chris and Sean) are both at UCLA."

Blokker said playing at Cascade, which has been in the past five state Class AAA championship games, winning two state titles, has been a big reason so many former Bruins have found success in college soccer.

"We got seen playing for Cascade," he said. "And North County United (the premier youth team most Cascade players grew up with) always won the district championship and played in the state tournament."

Mitalas said he is contacted more and more often by college coaches from outside the Pacific Northwest.

"I think coaches like taking players from up here," he said. "Look at the players that we've sent on and imagine what would happen if they had all played at Washington - it would be a national soccer power."

Mitalas and Blokker both called the Olympic Development league a chance to see some of the best young soccer talent in the area.

"Remember, the U.S. has to have a professional league playing by the time the World Cup comes here (in 1994)," Mitalas said. "This Olympic Development program is where a lot of those players are going to come from, as well as players for the Olympic and national teams."