SMOKEY POINT, WA— The Snohomish County FC Steelheads host the Lacey Pocket Gophers in a WWPL league match on Sunday May 26 at 3 PM at Dick Cardinal Stadium (Lakewood High School) in Smokey Point. It will be the first-ever meeting between the two clubs.
The Steelheads’ 2019 season has already reached the halfway point overall and in home matches as well. The Fish have played 7 of their 14 scheduled matches and 3 of their 6 home contests. Currently the Steelheads are 3-1-3 on the season (Win – Loss – Draw). In Western Washington Premier League (WWPL) play SnoCo FC are 2-0-1 with 7 out of a possible 9 points, good enough for second in the table behind Nido Aguila Seattle (10 points).
The 18
The Steelheads will have a familiar 18-man roster for the Lacey challenge. The one new player making his SnoCo FC debut is Jacen Stein. The Redmond High School Senior just wrapped up his Mustangs career and is coming over and up to the WWPL.
Jacen Stein
SnoCo FC Head Coach Dagi Kesim has been looking to add offensive punch for the Steelheads. Jacen Stein fits in as an Attacking Central Midfielder or even a Forward who can test opponent defenses. He’s proven it at the premier youth level and in high school play. Now he jumps in with adults to see what he’s got. (Video below is from Stein’s junior season with Redmond HS.) Jacen was Second Team All State (WIAA) at Forward in 2018.
Stein continued to rack up goals in 2019 with the Mustangs. See his video page here. So what’s a Redmond kid doing up north? Turns out Kesim has privately trained Jacen for a few years, helping him to rise up and make an impression in both the Sounders and Crossfire Academies. Jacen has also played for FC Alliance.
Healing Up
The Steelheads have a big player pool of nearly 40 guys and they have needed that kind of depth. Defenders Karim Hanafy (ACL) and Logen Flem (starter, ankle) are out for the season but mending well. Forward Kyle Aure (starter, broken elbow) had successful surgery on Monday and is beginning his rehab.
Gophers Challenge
The Steelheads will need a premier performance to get a result on Sunday against the Lacey Pocket Gophers. The current table doesn’t tell the story of the opponent. They drew 2-2 at leaders Nido Aguila Seattle before falling 5-1 at home to XF Redmond. Crossfire fielded their NPSL squad for that match. Last year Lacey went into the final match of the season before falling to Kirkland FC and finishing 5 points behind them in second place. Lacey hosts Kirkland this Saturday May 25 at 5:30 PM and then must turn around and head north to play SnoCo FC the next afternoon.
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