Prep Soccer -- Outstanding In Their Field

REDMOND - Perhaps the best soccer team in state history was playing its best half on a recent warm spring night. And its coach, Jon Matsushita, wasn't even watching.

The Eastlake Wolves varied their attacks and maintained possession so superbly against Lake Washington in the KingCo Conference title game that Matsushita sat on the bench, his legs comfortably crossed, talking to two local youths proudly showing him Toy Story action figures they'd purchased earlier that day.

Matsushita is spoiled. He has coached this supremely talented group for two years, during which the Wolves have amassed a 34-0-1 record, outscored their opponents 166-14 and won the Redmond school's first Class AAA title in any sport.

The Eastlake coach sees an unprecedented three U.S. national team players, 15 current or former Olympic Development Program players and at least nine potentialDivision I players every day in practice. The fans in the stands see the Wolves only on game nights. They are always riveted to the action.

A high-school team like Eastlake's might never again be assembled.

"A team like that only comes around once every 100 years," said Kentwood Coach George Czarnowski, whose team fell 4-0 to Eastlake in the first round of the Class AAA state playoffs last week.

Eastlake will play North Thurston (16-4) at Selah High School (near Yakima) in the state semifinals Friday. The Wolves - with nicknames such as Fergy, Sully, Gurdy, Farnsy and Freddy - are ranked No. 3 in the nation by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA). It is the highest ranking a Washington boys soccer team has held during the poll's eight-year existence.

As the Wolves go for their second consecutive state championship this weekend, one question being asked is: Are they the best soccer team in state history? Another question that could be asked is: Are they the best team in state history in any sport?

"When it comes to national-team players and ODP players, I didn't have the caliber and extent of the Eastlake kids," said Jim Judson, who coached the Thomas Jefferson boys soccer teams to four consecutive Class AAA state titles and a 94-game unbeaten streak from 1983-87. "But to draw comparisons isn't fair to each team. It's the 80s vs. the 90s."

We'll compare them for fun anyway.

Judson's 1984 team was 21-0 and outscored its opponents 103-4. Eastlake has won 15 games this spring by an aggregate score of 75-4.

The quality of soccer in Washington, however, has improved steadily during the past 13 years, a fact that has hampered Eastlake's scoring average and simultaneously blessed the Wolves with the most accomplished collection of soccer players in state history.

-- Senior Mike Casale used to run races at Margaret Mead Elementary with boyhood friend Matt Nielsen before choosing track over soccer in junior high. Nielsen is favored to win the 100 meters at this weekend's Class AAA state track meet. Casale, a midfielder who was the 1995 Gatorade State Player of the Year, didn't win all the races. But he won a few.

"I might have won one or two in there," said Casale, who played for the under-17 U.S. national team in 1994 and 1995. "I've heard Steve Sampson, the national coach, say so many times that a person no one can catch . . . that's something that a lot of people look for. You have someone who is fast and you have a tactical advantage."

-- Junior Nick Downing is the captain of the U-17 U.S. national team that will play in Egypt this summer in the World Youth Championships.

He has played in front of as many as 80,000 fans in South America and Mexico, where Downing says "Everybody hates you . . . they're all spitting and throwing bottles at you. But, at the same time, you don't hear anything."

The 1996 Gatorade State Player of the Year, hasn't always been so successful, however. Downing was cut the first time he tried out for the Crossfire Sounders U-13 select team, coached by Seattle Sounder Coach Alan Hinton.

"I let them scrimmage for 15 minutes after that," Hinton said. "And Nick was the best player on the field by a mile. So I told him he's back on the team. He's come to every game and every practice since and he gives everything he's possibly got to give."

-- Junior striker Matt Flynn has also worn a U.S. national team jersey. "It feels a little bit better," Flynn said. "It's a little more comfortable." Flynn scored the only goal in last Friday's 1-0 victory over Evergreen, the team ranked No. 14 in the nation by the NSCAA.

He is not as colorful as Casale, who wears a rubber band in his hair during games, or Downing, who mimicks the shirt-raising celebrations he sees on highlight shows after he scores, but Major League soccer is already knocking on Flynn's door.

"If I get a chance to go to MLS before college, I'm going," said Flynn, who has played for U.S. teams in Ireland and Costa Rica.

The U.S. professional league might be a common destination for Flynn and his teammates. Four seniors - Casale (Washington), Sean Sylvis (Stanford), Matt Lund (Portland) and Josh Bieler (Air Force) - have signed letters of intent to play soccer at Division I universities. Five, maybe six, juniors are likely recipients of Division I scholarships next year.

Of the 18 players on the Eastlake roster, only three have never played on a state ODP team.

And, unlike many players on the great Jefferson teams who also played football or basketball, none of the Wolves play other sports competitively.

"We just sort of put away all the other sports," Downing said. "I remember he (Hinton) sent a letter home when Mike and I made the Sounders, basically saying you need to choose this or that. Our coach stressed so much soccer . . . to get better you should play daily, all the time, always having a ball."

Hinton, who played for the English national team and won two English Premier League championships as a player with Derby County, has coached 11 Eastlake players at one time or another during the past six years.

Nine Wolves were members of last year's Crossfire Sounders that went undefeated and won the U-17 state title, their fourth in six years at the club level.

Hinton has seen the best teams in the world play. And he would put this team up against the best teams in any country in its age group.

"If I was the coach of the Youth Program at any program around the world, I would be proud to have them," Hinton said. "I would think this is the best high-school team in the nation. I don't think anybody can beat them.

"I just think Eastlake has been extremely fortunate that nine of my kids happen to go to Eastlake. Normally you don't get the bulk of one program going to one school."

Despite their tremendous skills and the consistent coaching they have received, luck - the fact that they all live in this corner of the country on the Sammamish Plateau within the Eastlake attendance area - might be the biggest factor in their success.

That kind of luck isn't likely to repeat itself again soon, if ever. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Sampling Washington's best

A look at some of the best soccer teams in recent history

-- 1984 Thomas Jefferson boys. 21-0. Outscored opponents 103-4. Part of 94-game unbeaten streak was briefly a national record. Center back Wade Webber now plays for the MLS's Dallas Burn.

-- 1992 Federal Way girls. xx-0. Class AAA champions. Ranked No. 2 in country by the NSCAA, highest final ranking by any state soccer team. Justi Baumgardt is a member of the U.S. National team.

-- 1996 Lakeside girls. 19-0-2. Second of consecutive Class AA state champions from Lakeside. Ranked No. 11 in NSCAA final poll. Washington signee Theresa Wagner broke Michelle Akers' all-time Class AA scoring record.

-- 1997 Eastlake boys. 15-0. Defending Class AAA champions outscored opponents 75-4 and ranked No. 3 by the NSCAA. Three national team players (Nick Downing, Mike Casale, Matt Flynn). Four seniors have signed Divsion I scholarships. ----------------------------------------------------------------- All-timers

Picking Washington's all-time best high-school teams is subjective and sure to inspire debate, but here are some to consider:

-- 1993 Mead (Spokane) boys cross country team - National champions part of current streak of nine consecutive Class AAA state titles. Four runners accepted scholarships to Oregon, another received scholarship to Montana State and a sixth received a cross-country skiing scholarship to Northern Michigan.

-- 1995 Mercer Island girls swim team - Part of back-to-back national titles in 1994-95, the only Washington swim teams ever to win national titles. Five girls either have received or are expected to receive Division I scholarships.

-- 1994 Lakeside girls basketball team (27-0) - Lions had an average victory margin of more than 30 points, won 56 consecutive games over two seasons and was ranked No. 12 by USA Today, the highest national ranking ever by a state girls team. Three players are at Division I schools.

-- 1976 Cleveland boys basketball team (23-1) - Eagles won Class AA state title in 1975, Class AAA title in 1976. Four Division I players. Center Jawann Oldham played 10 years in the NBA. Guard Carl Ervin, a seventh-round pick by the Seattle Sonics, and forward James Woods both played two years in the CBA.

-- 1994 Kamiakin (Kennewick) baseball team (25-1) - Class AAA champions. Two players drafted and three others signed Division I scholarships, including current Washington players Chris Whitemarsh and Brian Williamson. Seniors went 84-2 during four-year career.

-- 1976 Snohomish football team (13-0) - Class AAA state champions. Lineman Curt Marsh later played in the NFL for the Los Angeles and Oakland Raiders. LB Jerry McLain played for the UW.

-- 1996 Sehome boys basketball team (30-0) - The Class AAA champions won every game by at least 11 points and finished ranked No. 5 in the nation by USA Today, the highest ranking for a Washington team in the 15-year history of the poll. Three players are on partial or full scholarships at Western Washington, one is on scholarship at Gonzaga and another is on baseball scholarship at Arizona. A sixth, Sean Ryan, walked on to the Washington football team and scored a touchdown in this year's spring game.