Washington has the highest per capita number of adult soccer players in the nation, reports the Washington State Soccer Association. Membership has more than quadrupled in the past five years. More than 11,000 men and 2,200 women play on some 700 teams statewide. Co-Rec teams has 400 players in the Seattle area and a variety of indoor and other leagues have organized. In addition, over 69,000 youth are registered with Washington State Youth Soccer Association.

Seattle's Mike Ryan names the roster for the inaugural U.S. Women's National Team matches. Among his selections after watching action at the National Sports Festival in New Orleans are eight players from Washington: Denise Bender (Seattle/FC Seattle), Sharon Remer (Seattle/FC Seattle), Lori Bylin (Auburn/Cozars, Puget Sound), Lori Henry (Seattle/Pepsi Stompers and Shoreline CC), Michelle Akers (Snohomish/Central Florida and Cozars), Denise Boyer (Tacoma/Cozars UPS), Kathy Ridgewell (Enumclaw/Cozars and Western Washington), Cindy Gordon (Des Moines/Cozars and Western Washington). Lorraine Figgins (Seattle/Cozars) is named an alternate.

The longest championship game in 27 years of NCAA championships ends with a golden goal by UCLA reserve Andy Burke. After 166 minutes 5 seconds, the Bruins finally break through in the eighth overtime period to defeat 10-man American University, 1-0, with the game's only goal coming as Burke scores on a counterattack from 15 yards. Burke had not seen action until the seventh period. The Eagles play the final 37 minutes shorthanded following a red card. A crowd of 5,986 watches Big Kick 2 in the Kingdome. Says UCLA coach Sigi Schmid after the school's first title, "A game like this takes more than perseverance and a lot of faith. As the game drags on, you have to keep pushing, and we did that.”

Puget Sound finishes the season with a win over Whitworth, 2-1, their 11th of the season. It's more than double what the Loggers achieved in the last two years, combined. Senior Matt Smith scores his record 21st goal to go along with seven assists. Freshman Todd Holman gets his 15th goal.

Nearly 17,000 turn-out in Tacoma Dome to see the Stars upset Chicago, 6-3, and give coach Bob McNab his first home victory. It's the second-largest crowd in the club's first two seasons. McNab had gone 0-6 in 1983 and 0-3 to start his second stint at home. Tacoma businesses bought all available tickets which were distributed free at local Safeway stores.

With Memorial Stadium covered in several inches of snow, Seattle Pacific scrambles to find an alternative site over Thanksgiving holiday. The Falcons roost in the Kingdome, and despite travel conditions 2,467 root them on to a 2-1 victory over West Virginia’s Davis & Elkins in an NCAA Division II semifinal. Peter Hattrup scores both goals, including the 85th minute winner. It’s the 300th career win for Cliff McCrath, making him only the fifth collegiate coach to do so. Two NWAAC men’s semifinals are played prior to the main event.

Of all the emergency measures taken to play postseason games amidst a record November snowfall, without question the University of Puget Sound was forced to the most extreme in hosting the women’s NAIA Finals. Originally set for Baker Stadium on campus, the tournament reluctantly accepts an invitation to the Tacoma Indoor Soccer Center. Teams from Houghton (N.Y.), Wilmington (Ohio), Westmont (Calif.) and UPS must quickly adapt to 6v6 indoor rules and equipment. In a mid-morning match, Westmont gets off the mark to a 3-1 lead and defeats the Loggers, 4-2, for the national title. Shelley Flack scored two of her four goals early on and added two assists in the Loggers’ 6-0 semifinal win over Wilmington the night before.

Digging deep, shorthanded FC Seattle rebounds from a road loss at Victoria the day prior to upset the Canadian National Team, 3-2, at Memorial Stadium. Walter Schmetzer scores twice, including the free kick winner in the 72nd minute. Gerard McGlynn gives the hosts their first lead in the 2nd minute. Seattle played without four regular starters, including Jeff Durgan and Robbie Zipp. Two months later, Canada wins the final round of Concacaf qualifying to reach the 1986 World Cup.

Predrag Radosavljević , a 22-year-old rookie better known as Preki, scores in his Tacoma Stars debut, a season-opening 7-5 loss at Minnesota. Preki had been discovered by coach Bob McNab during a summer trip to Yugoslavia. At a preseason tournament in Pittsburgh, Preki impressed, scoring three goals and three assists to earn MVP honors. He goes on to score 332 MISL goals.

Roy Wegerle scores four goals and assists on two more as the Tacoma Stars crush the New York Cosmos, 11-4. Dale Mitchell is catalyst for record score, completing a hat trick in first quarter. Newly-acquired keeper Bob Rigby makes 15 saves and defense blocks a record 22 shots. It proves to be Freddie Goodwin's final win as coach. The Cosmos withdraw from the league and cease operations six days later. Many in the crowd 11,206 stayed for the postgame concert featuring Rail.

Record snowfall twice postpones WIAA tournament semifinals, prompting a girls' soccer marathon in the Tacoma Dome. AAA and AA semifinals, consolation and finals are all played in a single day, stretching over 14 hours to just after midnight, when Highline blanks Thomas Jefferson, 1-0, for the AAA title. Pirates had been third in 1983 and runner-up in 1984. Shorecrest wins the AA, 3-2, over Lakeside, on an Alicia Jones header with 30 minutes left. It's the Scots' second title in three years, having won 1983 all-division tournament.

Featuring a midfield made-up almost entirely of Schmetzer brothers, FC Seattle earns its first international win, 2-1, over Brazil's legendary Santos. Brian Schmetzer scores both goals, less than five minutes apart in the second half. Younger siblings Andy and Walt Schmetzer, 18-year-old twins, make their debut just two weeks after completing their prep careers on the same Memorial Stadium field by winning a state championship. Altogether, the three brothers start nine games together.

Mitre Eagles are unable to summon the tying goal in the U.S. Amateur Cup final, falling to Club Espana, 2-1, in St. Louis. Peter Hattrup’s goal after 21 minutes had put the Eagles ahead. The Seattle team had defeated Atlanta’s Datagraphic, 2-0, in the semi with Hattrup figuring both in an own goal and heading home Andy Churlin’s cross for the second. The Eagles had doubled up in the Open Cup, advancing to the May 19 West Regional championship game before being bounced by eventual winner San Francisco Greek-Americans via penalties (2-2) in near 100-degree heat in Tempe, Ariz.

Mark Faller strikes the first and final blows in Seattle Pacific's 5-3 win over Washington, snapping the Huskies' 37-game home win streak before 1,500. The Falcons had been the last team to win in Husky Stadium, in 1980. After falling behind 3-2, SPU ties it just before halftime through Peter Hattrup. Craig Ottosen put the visitors ahead on the hour and Faller finishes it in the 78th minute.

FC Seattle adopts a nickname going into its third season. They will be known as the Storm. Meanwhile, the Western Soccer Alliance expands with three southern California entries (Los Angeles, Hollywood and San Diego), plus Edmonton. Victoria drops out.

Senior defender David Wittrell becomes the first All-American for Seattle Pacific – and every other men's collegiate program in Washington. Wittrell, who helped the Falcons win the NCAA Division II championship, is named by the NSCAA to the second team. Brent Goulet of Tacoma and Portland's Warner Pacific makes the NAIA second team.

A pair of Peter Hattrup goals give the Falcons the fast start they would need, and he later assists on what proves to be the championship-clinching goal for Seattle Pacific. Reclaiming the NCAA Division II throne for the second time in three seasons, SPU wins, 3-2, over host Florida International. Hattrup takes his goal total to 26 by firing home strikes in the 24th and 38th minutes. Four minutes into the second half, Glenn Lurie makes it 3-0. The Sun Blazers, who had missed three golden opportunities at the outset of the match, finally broke through in, twice, in the final half-hour before a record home crowd of 1,500. The Falcons (20-3-0), who had lost to FIU in the 1984 final, become the first 20-win team in Washington collegiate history and the first three-time Div. II champion.

U.S. National Team captain and Tacoma native Jeff Durgan, 23, returns home, spurning much bigger offers to sign for $250 per game with FC Seattle. Durgan was NASL Rookie of the Year with the Cosmos in 1980. Durgan becomes the fourth NASL veteran committing to FC Seattle, joining Brian Schmetzer, Robbie Zipp and Eddie Krueger.

Thomas Jefferson rolls to its third straight AAA boys’ state crown with a comfortable 3-0 win over previously perfect (19-1) Bellarmine Prep at Memorial Stadium. Jeff Moser, Ray Hoff and Todd Holman find the net for the Raiders, now unbeaten in 59 games and winners of 30 straight. TJ, missing Rob Sakamoto, Jim Weber and Kobi Yamada due to club conflicts, survived a semifinal scare from Roosevelt, getting a late Hoff equalizer and vital save from Mike Gosselin in the shootout (2-2 5-4). Bellarmine becomes the first Tacoma team to reach a final, eliminating Redmond, which takes third place.

Nathan Hale lays claim to the state’s first AA boys’ trophy by dispatching North Thurston, 2-0. Walter Schmetzer sets-up twin brother Andy early in the second half, then picks out Keith Piccirilli less than two minutes later to double the lead. The Raiders had finished third in the 1984 all-division tournament. O’Dea wins the consolation final, 3-1, over Franklin Pierce.

Mark Stoppler scores 6:07 into overtime as Washington wrests the NCSC crown away from Seattle Pacific, 2-1, before 1,100 at Memorial Stadium. A win would've secured the title for SPU. Stoppler finds the upper left corner from 25 yards to avenge a home loss to the Falcons two weeks earlier. Mark Faller opens the scoring in the 26th minute before the Huskies' John Hamel ties nine minutes later. "This team has shown a great deal of character," says first-year UW Coach Ron Carter. "After suffering so many disappointing losses early in the season, it took a tremendous amount of character to come back and win the conference title."

Alex Barr, a fixture in Spokane soccer and Gonzaga’s first varsity head coach, dies of leukemia. Barr, 45, was active with the Spokane Skyhawks youth programs, and in 1980 the Scotland native was named Gonzaga head coach, a post he held for four seasons. Masour “Manny” Faridnia is named his successor Aug. 27.

Spokane Cup holder Badder FC holds off Spokane Produce, 3-1, to win Inland Empire Soccer Association’s Division 1. Badder places five players on the all-league team: Hassan Hamdan, Khalid Alothman, Tarik Al-Gain, Abdul-Baset Musali and Alex Kwamina. Spokane Produce has four: Dick Cullen, Einar Thorarinsson, Robin Crain and Mark Belstad.

Captain Jeff Durgan and FC Seattle part ways two days after his second sending off for a violent foul in an exhibition loss to the Canadian National Team. After fouling John Catliff at midfield, Durgan stomps his right foot on the prone Catliff’s face. Earlier in the season, Durgan was red-carded for an altercation with Ricky Davis in Seattle’s friendly with the U.S. National Team. “I can’t explain it, only to say that I did not intend to kick the guy in the face. Right now, I’m fighting a lot of disappointment and bitter feelings about my career in general, especially what’s happened over the last few years,” says Durgan, referencing the NASL folding and U.S. early exit from World Cup qualifying. Without Durgan, Seattle draws and loses its next two matches to fall out of contention for the Western Soccer Alliance title.

FC Seattle forms a six-team Western Washington City League for both men’s and women’s amateurs. Rosters are open to high school, college and adults, with top players from the league to be selected to represent FC Seattle men’s and women’s teams for domestic and international play during the summer. Teams are located in Seattle (Memorial Stadium), Tacoma (Lincoln Bowl), Everett (Mariner HS), Renton (Renton Stadium), Bellevue (Bellevue CC) and Federal Way (Highline Stadium) and each matchday features a men’s and women’s doubleheader.

Teams from Seattle and Portland meet in the first known full-field amputee soccer match at Memorial Stadium. Both teams are sponsored by The Athletes Foot. Seattle’s Don Bennett, who first formed a team in September 1982, aspires to host an amputee World Cup in the future. Seattle wins the game, 2-0.

Jimmy Gabriel is named successor to Bruce Rioch as head coach of FC Seattle. Gabriel, the former Sounders coach, had served as coaching director for two years. Rioch resigned to return to England, and within five months he’s named manager of Middlesbrough. Also, Bill Sage replaces Jack Brand as president and announces the club will revert to amateur following one year of semi-pro. It’s estimated the organization lost $500,000.

Booth Gardner, 48, becomes Washington’s 19th governor. Gardner, the former Pierce County Executive, is heavily involved in soccer. He was co-owner of both the ASL Tacoma Tides and NASL Colorado Caribous and has been coaching a female team based in Lakewood, the Cozars, who have graduated from being a state youth champion to 1984 U.S. Women’s Amateur Cup runners-up. His first out-of-state trip as governor is February 14-18 to Las Vegas as the Cozars win all seven games to successfully defend their Silver Mug tournament title.

Mercer Island's Don Bennett organizes an amputee soccer program, to be coached by Bill Barry and sponsored by the Athlete's Foot shoe stores. Bennett said the sport's devotees were originally drawn from skiers looking for a way to stay in shape during the offseason. Barry later establishes Amputee Soccer International. Exhibitions are played August 24 before a Mariners-Yankees game in the Kingdome.

Peter Hattrup scores two goals and assists on two others in Seattle Pacific's 6-1 scorching of Portland at Memorial Stadium. Bobby Bruch also gets at brace for SPU, ranked No. 2 in Division II. It's Cliff McCrath's 200th win with the Falcons since arriving in 1970. SPU had won just once before McCrath took over.

Ron Carter is named Washington men’s head coach after guiding Bellevue Community College to the 1984 NWAAC title and 63-21-16 record in seven seasons. Carter, a London native and Boeing engineer, replaces Denny Buck, who resigned after two years (31-6-3) to enter private business.

Seattle University sophomore goalkeeper John Matusak, rarely starved for action in this humbling season, makes a record 20 saves in a 5-0 loss at Portland. The Chieftains are in the midst of an 11-game losing streak and a four-game stretch in which they are outscored 22-0. For the season, SU allows 71 goals.

Tacoma Cozars are thwarted by Michelob Ladies of Dallas, 3-2, in the women’s national final in St. Louis. Michelle Akers converts a penalty to make it 1-1, but the Texans go in front 3-1 by halftime. Kathy Ridgewell’s 68th minute goal sets the stage for a furious assault in the final stages. It’s the second year in a row Booth Gardner and Mike Ryan’s team has lost in a final. Lori Bylin and Akers gave Cozars a 2-0 semifinal win over Connecticut.

FC Seattle players and staff absorb 50 percent pay cuts following disappointing attendance for the first two FC Seattle exhibitions. A 1-0 loss to Scotland’s Dundee draws 4,487 and a 2-1 win over Brazil’s Santos attracts 4,180, compared to budget projections of 6,500. “We now have to come back to reality,” says president Jack Brand. “The nice thing for us is we're flexible. We have to keep expenses in line with the gate.” Players will now earn $500 per month rather than $250 per game. Bob Walsh & Associates is asked to help improve marketing and attendance.

Sonya Brandt and Shelley Flack of Puget Sound's national runners-up are among four Washington women named to the NAIA All-America teams. Brandt and Flack, both forwards, make the first team. Shelly Simmons of UPS and Pacific Lutheran's Linda Bostjancic are named to the second team.

Highline Pepsi Stompers’ first venture to the Girls National Youth Challenge Cup in Denver ends with a third-place finish, taking the U19 consolation final, 4-1, over Busch Select of St. Louis. Stompers, who breezed through the regional stage, needed to rally late to draw level with Falls Church Cobras (Va.) in the semifinal. Lori Henry and Kerri Tashiro tallied, taking it to overtime, but Birthe Hagstad scores to send the Cobras through. Stompers had run roughshod over six West Regional to become Washington’s first girls’ national representative. They beat Oregon, 3-0, in the title game at Boise, finishing with a 27-2 goal differential. Jerome Rauen became coach five years ago and guided the team to three of their five state cups.

Tacoma completes a disappointing second season with Dale Mitchell scoring twice to upset Las Vegas, 4-2, before 8,024 in the Tacoma Dome. Mitchell finishes with a record 55 goals – 6th-best in MISL – and gets his 10th game-winner in a 17-31 season. The Stars went 4-3 in the final seven contests. It was only the fifth loss in 28 games for the Americans, owner of the league’s third-best record.

Former Sounders star sweeper Bruce Rioch is named head coach of FC Seattle, which will pay players $3,000-5,000 for 12 summer exhibitions after going amateur in its inaugural season. Jimmy Gabriel had served as coaching director and Tommy Jenkins as coach in 1984. Since leaving Seattle in 1981, Rioch has managed England’s Torquay for three seasons.

In need of a fourth straight win to stay in the MISL playoff hunt, the Tacoma Stars go down, 7-5, at San Diego. Branko Segota scores three fourth-quarter goals as the Sockers pull away from a 3-2 deficit to claim the division title. The Stars will finish 17-31, five fewer wins than their inaugural season.

Bruce Raney produces FC Seattle’s first-ever hat trick and it propels the visitors to a 6-1 road rout of FC Portland in the inaugural Western Soccer Alliance game at Civic Stadium. After leaking an early goal, Brian Schmetzer quickly replies and Raney scores twice before intermission, then completes the scoring in the 88th minute.

Behind the four goals of Glenn Lurie, Seattle Pacific romps to its sixth straight victory to start the season, 8-0 at Cal Poly Pomona. Five of the Falcons' wins have been shutouts, including back-to-back 4-nil wins over St. Mary's and Santa Clara, both Division I programs. Lurie scores seven goals during the streak.

Peter Hattrup erupts for a school-record five goals, all in the first half, as Seattle Pacific thrashes Gonzaga 11-0 at Redmond High School. The 11 goals is also an SPU single-game record. Hattrup opens the scoring after 7 minutes, 14 seconds. He scores his fifth goal at 33:46, and leaves the game shortly thereafter. Hattrup had shared the old mark of four goals with six others. It is the fifth win over a Div. I opponent for the Falcons.

With 11 games left, Bob McNab replaces Freddie Goodwin as Tacoma Stars head coach. The move comes 444 days after Goodwin's appointment and McNab's demotion to assistant. Tacoma has struggled without injured midfielders Ralph Black and Ray Evans, losing 4 straight and 14 of last 19.

In the MISL draft, Tacoma takes Gerard McGlynn (Seattle/SPU), second overall, in the first round, Eddie Henderson (Seattle/O’Dea) in the third and Sean Bogert (Federal Way/Thomas Jefferson) in fourth. Andy Schmetzer (Seattle/Nathan Hale) is drafted 11th overall by Cleveland and Pittsburgh selects Walter Schmetzer (Seattle/Nathan Hale) 16th overall, along with Dennis Gunnell (Federal Way/SPU) 29th. Ken Fuegmann (Federal Way/Washington) goes to Cleveland at No. 48.

Michelle Akers scores the historic first U.S. National Team goal in her first appearance, a 2-2 draw with Denmark at the Mundialito for Women in Jesolo, Italy. The 19-year-old scores the Americans' opener in the 38th minute. She adds another goal versus England in a 3-1 loss August 23.

FC Seattle joins three other teams to form the Western Soccer Alliance. FC Portland, San Jose Earthquakes, Victoria Riptides and Seattle will play each other home and away, plus host the Canadian National Team in a counting game in the standings. FIFA's British clubs traveling outside the United Kingdom prompts the move. FC Seattle had been scheduled to host Aston Villa and West Bromwich Albion, both of England's First Division. Two other friendlies, versus Sarajevo's Zeljeznicar and Mexico's Leon are canceled.

In the men’s national over-30 final, Seattle’s Bald Eagles come from behind to beat New Jersey’s Perth Amboy ZPA, 2-1. Steve Newman knots the score in the 35th minute and Tim Allen gets the game-winner in the 71st. Coach Pablo Aranz says, “I was very happy because we started five years ago and put this team together two years ago. I believe in American players, and the men are basically all local players from Seattle.”

The key to success in this country is a team like FC Seattle. We need more teams like that to develop more players. These players will become the future coaches. Without these teams, soccer will have no future. It will die.

Mark Peterson scores the winner with just 1:40 remaining as the U.S. National Team opens the next stage of World Cup qualifying by beating Trinidad & Tobago, 2-1, at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. Peterson, out of contract with the Tacoma Stars and out of the national team for 20 months, gets the close-range winner on a feed from Erhardt Capp. Peterson's youth teammate from Tacoma's Norpoint Royals, Jeff Durgan, also starts. Neither plays when the U.S. is eliminated May 31 by Costa Rica.

Seattle follows an unbeaten (9-0-1) regular season with victory in the FC Seattle City League cup final, 1-0, over Renton at Memorial Stadium. Bernadette McLaughlin scores the winner. Federal Way and Everett, fourth and sixth, respectively, meet in the men’s final with Federal Way winning, 3-1, through a goal and assist from Mark Stoppler. Seattle (5-0-5) was first in league play.

Seven players from Washington start for the U.S. Women's National Team in its inaugural match vs. host Italy in Jesolo, a 1-0 loss. Denise Bender, Denise Boyer, Lori Bylin, Cindy Gordon, Lori Henry, Kathy Ridgewell and Sharon Remer each play the entire game at the Mundialito for Women. It is considered a preview for a first Women’s World Cup, projected for 1987. USWNT players assembled for the first time on August 11 before departing.