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Just For Fun: Seattle Sounders Women
by Eileen Nicol

It’s exciting, it’s wholesome, it’s played outdoors, and going to a game won’t empty your wallet. Thousands of local girls and women play soccer for fun, competition and exercise. Perhaps you are one of them, looking for inspiration. Or maybe you just want an antidote to over-hyped, superstar athletes and their coddled team owners in billion-dollar, publicly financed stadiums. In any case, you can get your fix with the Seattle Sounders Women for under $10 this spring and summer at the Starfire Sports Complex in Tukwila.

The former team name “Sounders Saints” is a clue to the team’s origins. In 2001 two local women’s teams combined to join the United Soccer League (USL) W-League. It must have been a good combination, since they finished in the Final Four their first year. The following year, they went to the National Championship. Last year the Sounders Women finished second out of six teams in their Western Conference Division, with five wins, four losses and three ties. The growing W-League allows both college level and professional players to compete among 35 teams across the nation. In the Western Division, the Sounders Women play against teams from California, Canada and Colorado. Short of the national team, the W-League is currently the highest level of American women’s soccer. The WUSA league, an attempt to field a full-time, paid professional women’s league, folded in 2003 after three years.

What’s it like to be an American semi-professional women’s soccer player? Let’s just say the Nike contracts aren’t exactly rolling in. No matter how good you are, you still need a day job (or two!). Twenty-six-year-old Sounder Chalise Baysa is no exception. The players receive travel expenses, but other than that, she says it’s “just for fun.”

In addition to being a starting forward for the Sounders, Chalise is an assistant coach at Seattle Pacific University, and coaches a U11 (under age 11) girl’s premier soccer team with Club Dosveedanya. “It’s rewarding at that age because you see the growth in the players both as soccer players and young adults,” says Chalise. “It’s kind of clichéd, but work hard, put 100 percent into it and you’ll get the results.”

Chalise should know. This star athlete from Oak Harbor shredded the women’s soccer record book at the University of Oregon, where she finished the 2001 season with the single-season record in points (20) and ultimately became the school’s all-time leader in points (69) and goals scored (31). Getting a full-ride scholarship to a Division I school was “pretty huge for me and my family,” says Chalise. In her senior year she won the Pac-10 Conference Medal award, honoring her as the top female student athlete at U of O.

After college, she tried out for several WUSA teams. “Unfortunately I didn’t make them, but I think it helped me grow as a player and see what it takes to get to the next level.” Chalise played for the W-League’s Kansas City Mystics before returning to her home state of Washington and the Sounders Women, where she’s been a pivotal member of the team since 2004. “Being able to have a women’s team in Seattle is just great. I think it’s good for our state, it’s good for women’s soccer, it’s good for the club teams. For younger girls I think it’s good to have role models in your home town.”

Head coach Teddy Mitalas is excited about what he calls “better cohesiveness” for the 2007 team. “We’re going to be competitive,” he says. “We’re already out recruiting, and we’ve gotten calls from girls from all over.” Team tryouts are held early spring, ensuring a competitive mix of college and post-college players. Teddy has been with the Sounders Women since they started in 2001, and serves as Director of Soccer for Starfire Sports. He played professionally with the Sounders Men, was a member of the U.S. Olympic team in 1980, and has coached at all levels in his career. Luring talent to Seattle is a challenge, he says, because unlike some other clubs, the Sounders Women don’t have housing for their players. Still, they are hoping to be stronger, and Mitalas cites their facilities and their fans as draws. Starfire Sports Complex boasts modern locker rooms and eight soccer fields, in addition to covered stadium seating. Last year, Mitalas says, the average game attendance was 551, which was second-best in the league. “Seattle is a real big soccer town,” he says. “Girls soccer is booming.”

The 2007 team has their work cut out for them as their first scheduled game is away, against the 2007 league champion Vancouver (BC) Whitecaps. The Whitecaps were undefeated last year, with only one tie. This season Mitalas hopes to do better against the Whitecaps, since last year they had the “whole Canadian National team” on their roster, and this year they won’t, he says. Still, the Sounders’ first two outings against the league champions promise to be tough, and they hope for strong fan support at the home match on Saturday, May 26.

Where else can you get adult season tickets for $50? Or better yet, use that $50 to take the whole team (the package includes 16 youth tickets plus two adult). Individual game tickets start at $7 for adults and $4 for youth 16 and under. So this season, make a date for a Seattle Sounders Women game. You won’t find a bigger bang for your sporting buck, and you’ll help make the Sounders Women the best they can be.

For ticket information and game schedule visit www.starfiresports.com

Eileen Nicol is a regular contributor to Seattle Woman.

©2007 Caliope Publishing Company