Competing in a league with a defending state champion, a state runner up, and a team recognized by ESPN RISE as No. 2 in the nation, Issaquah hopes to play an unusual role in 2009 — the underdog.
“It’s kind of going to be a sneaky surprise, hopefully,” said head coach Tom Bunnell, who has a 87-9-3 record and three state titles in his five years at the helm.
The Eagles finished 12-4-2 in 2008, and made the state tournament for a fifth straight year before losing to Tahoma in the first round. They return a large core of veteran players from that team — a group that Bunnell feels has bonded to perfection.
“I just sense something different,” he said. “There are a lot of seniors and there are some freshmen who I think are going to do really well for us.”
Among that group of returning seniors, is midfielder Lindsay Stoll, who has drawn Division I interest from Rutgers, Washington State University and the University of Washington. Kristin Maris, who will play for Western Washington University, returns at the forward position as a first-team all-KingCo selection.
Issaquah also returns experience to the midfield and forward positions with seniors Kaley Allison, Abby Glasgow, Kelsey Ford, Morgan Gierke, junior second-team all-KingCo selection Dayna Talley and junior Margaret Rauch.
“We’re strong in the midfield and strong up front,” Bunnell said. “We lost our whole back line except for Sara (Brumley).”
Seniors Olivia Schmoe and Sidney Lee, along with juniors Laura Kasser and Riley Foreman will join Brumley on the back line. Freshman defender Audrey Thomas is also expected to see playing time right out of the gate.
Junior Brooke Miller will start at goalkeeper this season after backing up Nicole Eddings the last two years.
“She’ll be strong, it will be great,” Bunnell said. “It will be really nice to see how she performs.”
Bunnell said he believes his team’s greatest strength will be its ability to get along with one another.
“The classic quote of ‘The season isn’t a sprint, it’s a marathon,’ well in high school, it’s a sprint,” he said. “You’ve got to gel and you can’t spend a lot of time on that.”
Bunnell hopes unity will play to his team’s advantage in a difficult KingCo. The league presents defending 4A state champion Skyline, state runner-up Woodinville, and a nationally ranked Eastlake team loaded with Division I talent.
“I would expect again that the state champion would come out of the KingCo,” Bunnell said.
As for Issaquah’s goal in 2009, there are no surprises.
“We just want to be able to challenge for the KingCo title, and get back to state,” Bunnell said.
Issaquah begins its season at 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, Sept. 8 on the road against non-league Liberty. They then take to the road for a pair of non-league games before heading to the Tualatin Showcase Sept. 18-19 in Tualatin, Ore., to face some of Oregon’s best soccer talent. The first Eagle home game is set for Sept. 22 against Woodinville.
