Clank:
2009 CWAC will be dominated by East Valley. Excellent coaching, excellent athletes, and a number of players who come into the program with years of club soccer experience, all of which is why EV is a perennial power.
The casual fan will point to Helen Peterson as the CWAC MVP b/c of the goals she scores, but for people who have watched, coached, and played high level soccer, the consensus is that the best player in CWAC resides in Eburg. Her name is Hadley Farrand. Her understanding of the game is off the charts (as compared to girls in CWAC). She will play at the next level. Unfortunately, Eburg coaching has been at a "recreational" level in the past. Also, don't know if Ms. Farrand will have much of a supporting cast. Loss of Casey Demory will hurt.
Othello will be a tough match-up. A couple of talented juniors in Lindsay Garza and all-world athlete Christine Kirkwood, coupled with a few decent sophomores, coupled with a few incoming freshman who will contribute right away. Coaching remains an issue.
Prosser has Helen Peterson, who is an phenom athlete but not a sophisticated soccer player (yet). Supporting cast has been decent in past years and the coaching has been excellent at Prosser. Heard that the head coach may have moved to Chiwana.
Ephrata has had lots of talented teams in the past, but has struggled due to dysfunctional coaching. Rumor of many returning varsity players not turning out this year and based on my knowledge of club soccer, no help is arriving from the incoming freshman. A couple of very talented girls (Alex Youngberg, Kari Inch, Emily Sween) will keep the team in games, but middle of the pack is the likely outcome.
Quincy will continue to be in the bottom of the league, but four incoming freshman may be the catalyst of change. Four frosh with tons of club soccer experience trying to turn the program around.
Grandview, Wapato, and Toppenish will be middle or bottom third. Until the girls in these communities begin playing club soccer at younger ages, it will be very difficult for them to compete against the girls from other communities.
Few random comments:
LaSalle and Highland get a couple of very talented incoming freshman, and West Valley hit the jackpot. Nine incoming freshman from the very successful Sun City Strikers 94 team that played in Europe this past summer. In the Big 9, Southridge is going to be very tough. Be interesting to see how the opening of Chiwana impacts Pasco, which has been dominant in year's past.
