Local soccer players make ODP pool
Courtesy photo<br> Five soccer players with ties to the Columbia Basin were recently named to the state's Olympic Development Program pool. Those players include, top row (left to right) Haley Berryman, Danielle Crawford, Jen Lee (Director of Coaching, center), Jessie Green, and Kailey Crawford, and Derrick Gonzales (bottom center).
MOSES LAKE — In December, the Seattle Sounders FC, in conjunction with the Washington Youth Soccer Association, selected four girls from the Moses Lake-based squad CB United to participate in an elite training program designed to identify and assist the state’s best youth soccer players.
Those players — Danielle Crawford, Jessie Green, and Kailey Crawford of Moses Lake, and Haley Berryman of Ephrata — were selected to the pool of approximately 40 players who will compete to represent Washington State in various events throughout the country.
“The CB United girls who were selected have received top notch training at CB United,” said CB United’s Director of Coaching, Jen Lee. “It was not a case of if, but when, professional organizations like the Sounders FC took notice of the players CB United is developing.”
Derrick Gonzales of Moses Lake, who began his soccer career in CB United, also was selected to the state pool for boys born in 1994.
Crawford and Green recently made a further cut in early January and were selected to the top 22 players in all of Washington.
“I’m really excited that I’m one of the only girls from Washington.” Green said. “It will give me experience and a chance to meet new people. They even say that college scouts ask about us. So it can give us a chance to get noticed by the colleges.”
Starting in the spring of 2010, the Sounders FC will form teams to apply to the U.S. Soccer Federation Academy League, joining the other MLS youth teams already participating in this league and creating a stepping stone into the next echelon of play for the state’s elite youth players. Players in the program may be signed to a professional contract with Sounders FC.
Green, 14, an eighth-grader at Frontier Middle School, is a center midfielder who one day hopes to play in college for powerhouse program the University of North Carolina and maybe one day become a professional.
“They can help me with all the little things about my position and give me a professional point of view.” Green, who’s favorite play is Mia Hamm, said.
For more information, please contact Nick Wallace, Director of Girls at (509) 398-2505 or Jen Lee, Director of Coaching at (509) 793-8580.
— Staff report