Steve Zungul, MISL career leader and five-time scoring leader, is acquired by Tacoma from San Diego. He debuts Feb. 7 and scores his first goal against the Sockers, his former team, Feb. 9.

A fireworks rocket shot into Memorial Stadium sparks an early morning (1:40 am) fire that causes $100,000 damage to the playing turf. Consequently, FC Seattle is forced to move its remaining four home games to Renton Stadium.

Big Kick III, the NCAA Division I championship game in the Tacoma Dome, is won by Duke, 1-0, over Akron. It’s the first NCAA championship for the Blue Devils in any sport. Duke features Everett’s Jason Weighter and Hermann Trophy winner John Kerr. Only 4,652 (8,000 had been projected) attend, and coaches of both teams criticize the artificial turf.

Seattle’s Joan Dunlap-Seivold scores in her U.S. National Team debut vs. Canada (2:0) at Blaine, Minn. Dunlap-Seivold was named to the team by Anson Dorrance, her collegiate coach at North Carolina, where she had been a 1984 second team All-American. It was Dorrance’s first game as USWNT coach and the first meeting with Canada. Three other Washingtonians play: Sharon McMurtry, Lori Henry and Cindy Gordon.

Matt Smith’s hat trick provides all the scoring as Tacoma wins the FC Seattle City League cup final, 3-2, over Eastside at Renton Stadium. In the women’s championship game, Valley Cities Hurricanes edge Federal Way, 1-0. Valley Cities and Snohomish effectively replace Renton and Everett, respectively. Olympic and Bellingham expand the league to eight communities.

Goals by Chris McDonald and Mark Faller in first three minutes help SPU roll to 4-1 victory over Oakland before 4,100 at Memorial Stadium, making Falcons the first Div. II champion to repeat. Scott Cairns and Glenn Lurie play in their fourth straight NCAA championship game.

Tacoma clinches its first round series in four games (3-1), by beating the Wichita Wings for the third straight game, 3-2 before 17,094.

After a stretch in which the Tacoma Stars (11-16) lose 12 of 14 games, they fire coach Bob McNab for a second time, and hire former Sounders coach Alan Hinton. Although Hinton and Stars president John Best have had troubles working together previously, those teams also won. In Vancouver, the Whitecaps had a 24-6 record and their attendance more than doubled from the previous year to 26,000. When Best joined the Sounders as general manager in 1982, the club was 4-9 and Hinton wound up guiding them to the Soccer Bowl.

Jefferson’s Jimmy Weber connects on a header 8:48 into overtime for the Raiders’ fourth straight Class AAA state championship at Memorial Stadium. The 3-2 win over Mead is Jefferson’s 78th game without a loss. TJ lost 30-goal scorer Ray Hoff to an injury in the 11th minute.

After reaching the women’s national final for the third year in row, Tacoma’s Cozars fall to Virginia’s Wild Fires, 3-1, in overtime in St. Louis. Lisa Boyer put Cozars ahead in the 28th minute. Five members of the Cozars are chosen for the U.S. National Team’s trip to the Mundialito in Jesolo, Italy: Gretchen Gegg, Lori Henry, Joan Dunlap, Cindy Gordon and Michelle Akers.

U.S. Youth Soccer West regionals begin at Redmond’s Sixty Acres with Gov. Booth Gardner serving as honorary tournament director. Over 1,100 hotel rooms are booked on the Eastside. Over 200 volunteers are enlisted to work event operations. Some $100,000 in costs are covered through vendor exhibit fees and concessions.

FC Seattle Storm hosts Canada’s World Cup-bound national team at Shoreline Stadium five weeks before Mexico ’86. A gathering of 660 fans see Canada prevail, 3-2, on Randy Samuel’s 67th-minute winner. Dale Mitchell and Randy Ragan made it 2-0 before Seattle’s Peter Hattrup and Kevin Iverson countered. Jimmy Gabriel played all 18 of his available players.

SPU topples No. 1-ranked Cal State Northridge, 2-1, on the road, snapping the Matadors’ 14-game unbeaten streak. Jeff Storrs makes eight saves and Mark Faller gets the 81st-minute quarterfinal winner.

Steve Zungul scores five goals and has three assists for Tacoma in playoff-clinching, 9-2 victory at Los Angeles.

Mexico's World Cup begins, and Puget Sound area residents are able to watch 42 of 52 games via Group W Cable’s Channel 29, a public access channel. All audio is in Spanish.

Jimmy Gabriel announces he’s resigning as FC Seattle coach and returning to Britain following Storm’s season-ending, 1-0 win over Edmonton at Renton Stadium. Seattle (6-6-2) finishes second to Hollywood in the Western Soccer Alliance. Shortly after returning to England, Gabriel joins AFC Bournemouth as assistant manager to former Sounder Harry Redknapp.

Two members of the Tacoma Stars, Bob Lenarduzzi and David Norman, start for Canada in its World Cup opener, a 1-0 loss to France in Leon, Mexico.

John Polzin’s goal with 15 minutes left lifts Western Washington to a shocking 1-0 home win over Washington. John Reilly posts the shutout. “This is probably the biggest win in the history of our varsity program,” said Bruce Campbell. The Vikings had not beaten the Huskies since their formative club days, in 1974.

Betty Ellis, a grandmother and first female to officiate a U.S. professional game in 1980, coaches Tahoma girls to state AA title, 2-0 over Edmonds after upsetting undefeated Mountlake Terrace, 5-1, in the semifinal. Stephanie Johnson scores both Tahoma goals in the final. Federal Way wins girls AAA title over Issaquah, on penalties (0-0 4-3).

Cliff McCrath, Seattle Pacific coach, is presented the NSCAA Honor Award in St. Louis. McCrath is coming off a third NCAA championship at SPU, and he has also served as NCAA Rules Committee Secretary-Editor.

Kevin Wilson scores four times and Linda Pederson has three assists as the Athlete’s Foot amputee team from Seattle wins at Portland, 5-3.

FC Seattle’s women finish a brief summer schedule at 3-1-1 under coach Kerri Hunt, defeating Richmond Cornerkicks, the Canadian national runners-up, 1-0, at Renton Stadium. All four home dates were played as part of doubleheaders with men’s team. The sole loss was to U.S. runners-up Cozars.

FC Seattle hosts former Sounder Nicky Reid and first division Manchester City before 1,561 at Memorial Stadium. City gets a 1-0 win by scoring with 31 seconds remaining. Man City manager Jimmy Grizzell notes Seattle’s sometimes overly physical play. A total of 46 fouls are whistled. The game counts in the Western Soccer Alliance standings, as does the following Storm game vs. Dundee.

Steve Zungul scores the overtime winner, in 6-5 victory over San Diego, before 18,441. The Stars will start 1987 with a 12-2 record.

Tacoma wins a record eighth game in a row, 7-6 over Wichita, behind two goals apiece from Steve Zungul and Godfrey Ingram. Stars avenge their opening-night defeat, the only blemish in their first nine games.

A record crowd of 19,746 in the Tacoma Dome sees the Stars eliminated in the MISL semifinals in four games (3-1) by eventual champion San Diego, 8-5.

Highline’s Pepsi Stompers claim an eighth state cup title in 10 years, winning a second consecutive girls U19 championship while Federal Way’s Cheetahs earn a fourth championship in six seasons, this time the girls U15. The Cheetahs have already begun fundraising $50,000 toward becoming the first U.S. youth team to visit China, June 27-July 14. They will play three games and also participate in clinics and cultural exchanges.

Tacoma native Brent Goulet scores the 107th goal of his career, believed to be a collegiate record, in Warner Pacific College’s 3-0 win over Pacific (Ore.). Goulet surpasses the 106 of Erskine’s Sam McGinty, set in 1970.

Tacoma’s Brent Goulet, a junior at Warner Pacific, starts in his U.S. National Team debut vs. Canada (0:0) in Miami.

Defending Division I champion UCLA, unbeaten in 24 games, visits defending Div. II champ Seattle Pacific for an exhibition. The Bruins win, 2-1, before 3,100 at Memorial Stadium after the Falcons’ Scott Cairns is sent off. Shaun DelGrande deflects in Paul Caligiuri’s blast in the 44th minute.