Just weeks into the spring boys soccer season, the Mercer Island boys are sitting high in the KingCo standings.
The team started off with a 6-1 overall record, and was 4-1 in KingCo play, after a loss to Juanita two weeks ago.
“It’s going very well,” said head coach Steve Newman. “We have a good nucleus of talented players. I expect us to do well.”
After tough non-conference games against Skyline and Kennedy Catholic (both of which the Islanders won), the team opened conference play against Lake Washington, winning 4-0, and falling 4-1 to Juanita.
“We were missing some players when we played Juanita,” said Newman of the one loss this year. Even still, the returning head coach has high expectations for the group.
During Tuesday night’s spring break match, the Islanders hosted Sammamish, beating their KingCo opponent 4-0.
The game started with a goal by Jordan Morris, assisted by Josh Lee in the 16th minute after spending the first part of the game knocking on the Totem’s door.
In the 21st minute, Morris hit his second goal of the night, again assisted by Lee, on a fast shot into the corner.
The Islanders were up 2-0 going into the second half, when Alex Wood, assisted by Jamie Lungmus scored in the 45th minute. The final goal of the game came in the 62nd minute when Nick Boye connected with Alberto Perez for the fourth goal.
“Our mid-field is probably one of the best in KingCo and our forward line is good,” said the coach. Two days later the team played Interlake, winning 5-1 before traveling to play Liberty on Friday night.
The team, which lists 12 seniors on the roster, including captains Jordan Morris, Jeremy Chow and Alex Wood.
Now that KingCo play is heating up, the team will quickly see if the early season focus has paid off. Newman said they’ve worked a lot on possession.
“One touch, two touch and being ready to go. There are a lot of very skillful players,” he said. “Little flicks and touches that can create so much.”
The Islanders play at a very fast pace, anything thing the team has worked on this spring.
