Soccer teams qualify for championship tourney

Two Vashon Island Soccer Club teams qualified for the Tacoma-Pierce County Junior Soccer Association post-season championship tournament — the Vashon Pirates FC, an under-11 girls team, and the Vashon Raptors, an under-12 boys team.

Two Vashon Island Soccer Club teams qualified for the Tacoma-Pierce County Junior Soccer Association post-season championship tournament — the Vashon Pirates FC, an under-11 girls team, and the Vashon Raptors, an under-12 boys team.

The Leanne Ehnat Championship Tournament was established to enable the four leading teams in the top divisions of the Tacoma Pierce County Junior Soccer Association (TPCJSA) to compete for the championship position of their age group.

The Pirates qualified for the tournament by winning the Bronze Division with a record of three wins, one loss and one tie, having scored 14 goals while allowing four. The team will play in a single-elimination semifinal round Saturday, Dec. 5, in Gig Harbor. The winners of the semifinal games will play a final championship game on Saturday, Dec. 12, in Spanaway.

The Vashon Pirates FC are coached by Jim Westcott, Peter Heffernan and Jim Gilmour. Team managers are Erica Davidson and Sherrie Rush.

The Vashon Raptors, too, have qualified into the TPCJSA post-season championship tournament. The

Raptors, coached by Mark P. Scheer and Greg Martin (with assistance from Seattle Sounder star forward Nate Jaqua and team manager Andy Davis) qualified for the playoff tournament by going 7-1-1 in the season so far.

They are in first place for the Gold Division for U12 boys, with two games left in the season. The Raptors have scored 19 goals on the season, with fairly even scoring distribution across the team, but the big story is the Raptor defense, which has only allowed 5 goals in from opposing teams — with no team ever scoring more than one.

The Raptors will play in the championship tournament Dec. 19 and 20.

The Vashon GU-11 Pirates FC are Katherine Andrus, Cara Courtney, Maria Gilmour, Tabitha Gray, Katrina Heffernan, Lauren Jenks, Rebecca McGinnis, Lizzy Melrose, Hanna Nelson, Genevieve Payne, Molly Phillip and Calla Westcott.

The Vashon BU-12 Raptors are Nolan Adberg, Zachary Adler-Raff, Brandon Branch, Bernard Cowen, Joshua Davis, Anthony Gateman, Charlie McBride, Forrest Miller, Bohdin Mozeleski, Gerardo Pereyda, Gabe Reoux, Preston Scheer, Luis Castellon and Wyatt Heit.