Soccer Coaches Seeking Replacements Graduates, Transfers Leave Holes To Fill

How do you replace a player who scored a school and league record 31 goals last season?

That’s exactly what University boys soccer coach Brandon Deyarmin is trying to figure out.

Grant Falco, who graduated and now plays for Seattle Pacific University, broke the Greater Spokane League record last spring of 29 goals, a standard set by Mead’s Mitch Thomas in 1990.

“You can’t replace that,” Deyarmin said of Falco’s scoring. “You just hope that he inspired some of the younger players coming up and hopefully they can contribute.”

Central Valley coach Craig Griffiths also is looking for some replacements.

Andy Sather, first-team all-GSL last season, transferred to Ferris and Damien Bruse transferred to East Valley, both for personal reasons, Griffiths said.

But the Bears picked up senior transfer Nikko Gibson from EV. He was a first-team all-Frontier League selection at midfielder last season. U-Hi also received a transfer, sophomore midfielder Mitchael Carter from Shadle Park.

The Valley schools aren’t the only ones dealing with the transfer situation. Defending GSL champion North Central has three transfers, two from Rogers and one from Shadle.

With ‘99 Frontier League champion EV gone to the GSL, West Valley likes its chances to win the Frontier. Cheney should provide the biggest challenge.

Titan defense lacks experience

U-Hi is young but Deyarmin said a positive is that many of his sophomore players are on the same club team and used to playing together.

“We’re pretty young and there’s a lot of inexperience,” he said. “I think it’ll be real interesting. There are teams out there that had young players last year that are now good solid players. And there are teams that didn’t really lose anybody and will still be tough.”

Juniors Tyler Falco, Scott Tarbutton and Ben Hatcher will be looked to for leadership. They will play key roles in U-Hi’s strong midfield.

Junior goalie Josh Sutherland returns, as well as senior defender Brian Velategui and junior midfielder David Gordon.

The U-Hi defense will be filled by new players, said Deyarmin, who figures his team to finish in the middle of the pack.

The Titans open their season with a non-league game against Eisenhower at 7 p.m. Friday at U-Hi.

CV solid across the board

Each year Griffiths tries to predict how the GSL will turn out. But he’s determined that it’s not worth it.

“You don’t know,” said Griffiths, whose team hosts Eisenhower at 1 p.m. Saturday to kick off the season. “It’s who steps out there and makes the fewest mistakes. I’d be shocked to see any team go 16-0 this year. You’ll see the top teams getting beat.”

Griffiths said Saturday’s match with Eisenhower, one of the top teams in the Big Nine Conference, will be a good early test for the Bears, who finished second in the GSL to North Central by one point in the standings last season. They have a nonleague game with Ferris, last year’s third-place team, at 7 p.m. Monday at CV.

He expects the Bears to finish in the top four.

Senior midfielder Andy Cooper and junior defender Blair VanAntwerp both were second-team all-GSL picks last season.

EV anticipates GSL debut

East Valley, the ‘99 Frontier League champion, played four non-league games against GSL teams last season, tying with U-Hi, CV and Mead and losing 2-1 to Gonzaga Prep on an own goal.

“Of those teams, only Mead outplayed us,” said coach Jim Spencer.

Spencer said he knows his team will be playing at a much higher level and he hopes the Knights will be in the upper middle of the pack and earn a playoff berth.

Junior Jay Estey looks to fill a hole at sweeper, where ‘99 graduate Ryan Dennison earned league defensive MVP honors last season.

“If I can replace him we’ll be very competitive,” Spencer said. “If I can’t we’ll struggle, especially early.”

The team took another hit when Jesse Morris, the Knights’ second leading scorer last year, had to have knee surgery. He’s out for the season.

East Valley plays at 12:30 p.m. Saturday at Cheney to open the season and also has two nonleague games with West Valley.

WV has veteran defense

West Valley coach Matt Nelson lists a veteran defense and a good turnout as the team’s strengths.

The defense is led by ‘99 first-team all-Frontier League selections Josh Kane and John Focht, both seniors. Focht just finished helping the Eagles basketball team to sixth place at the State 3A tournament.

Six starters return. Besides Kane and Focht, seniors Andy Simpson, Mike Shafer and Stuart Cameron will be expected to show leadership for a team that has a young and inexperienced midfield. Shafer is the team’s top returning scorer.

This sidebar appeared with the story: Soccer rosters

Central Valley

Jeff Niehenke, sr. defender

Travis Johnson, sr.goalie

Mike Balcom, sr. midfielder

Matt Johnson, sr. midfielder

Casey Hatch, sr. defender

Andy Cooper, sr. midfielder

Mike Pederson, sr. midfielder

Ryan Hartshorn, jr. defender

Blair VanAntwerp, jr. defender

Chris Betts, jr. forward

Kam Murphy, jr. midfieldr

Steve Johnson, soph. goalie

Sean Stewart, sr. defender

Pete Peterson, soph. midfielder

Andy Brownson, jr. defender

Mike Lewis, jr.forward

Nikko Gibson, sr.forward

John Paladino, fr.midfielder

Brian Ingalls, fr.,midfielder

East Valley

Damien Bruse, jr. forward

Aaron Como, sr. defender

David Ettinger, sr. forward

Jay Estey, jr. defender

Jason Fletcher, sr. defender

Nick Funkhouser, fr. midfielder

Mitch Chandler, jr. forward

John Luesink, sr. defender

Jacob Morris, sr. midfielder

Johnny Chew, soph. defender

Alfie Szafransky, sr. midfielder

Ben Tesch, jr.goalie

Ryan Wilkinson, jr. defender

Dan Waggonner, sr. midfielder

Justin Fabio, sr. midfielder

Shawn Damien, sr.midfielder

Brian Duran, sr.midfielder

Andy Ettinger, soph.midfielder

Austin Hall, jr.midfielder

Matt Halloran, soph.forward

University

Tyler Falco, jr. midfielder

David Gordon, jr. midfielder

Ben Hatcher, jr. midfielder

Danny Lopez, soph. midfielder

Tyson Shelly, soph. forward

Josh Sutherland, jr. goalie

Scott Tarbutton, jr. midfielder

Brian Velategui, sr. defender

Micah Rowe, soph. forward

Tony Perkins, jr. defender

Marc Benda, sr. forward

Bryce Bergheim, jr. forward

Mitchael Carter, soph. midfielder

Kris Fischer, soph. midfielder

Ryan Hite, soph. goalie

Kirk Jones, soph. midfielder

Gary Kossuth, soph. forward

Jeremy Leach, sr. midfielder

Rob Peck, jr.defender

Todd Slatter, jr.midfielder

Jon Walter, soph.defender

West Valley

Trevor Allen, soph. goalie

John Focht, sr. defender

Chris Hamilton, jr. defender

Matt Hamlin, soph. midfielder

Josh Kane, sr. defender

Luke Roberts, soph. defender

Cole Rottweiler, jr. defender

Mike Shafer, sr. forward

Skyler Sharpe, soph. midfielder

Andy Simpson, sr. defender

Scott Sorenson, jr. forward

Stuart Cameron, sr. midfielder

Jason Alberti, sr. defender

Dave Hallquist junior

Graham Oswald junior

Matt Kirk, soph. midfielder

Diego Ponce, soph.midfielder