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Kirkland, WA - February 2nd, 2020 Kirkland FC is happy to announce the appointment of a new head coach and staff. The Goats have come to an agreement with Carlos Parra from Pateadores Academy Washington as the head coach and Rudy Lawrence from Pateadores Academy as the teams assistant coach. "We are thrilled with this appointment," says Trent Siedenburg, co-owner of the Goats. "We've desired for a while now to get a coach into the club that has a proven track record of building a club, and that's what Carlos brings to the Goats. Rudy has a history of coaching at this level as well, so his insight into how to get the best out of players will be a huge asset to the club. With the both of them guiding the direction of the team, we are excited to see what the season has in store." Kirkland FC will have a different head coach in all three of its seasons, but this time co-owner Elijah Gordon sees how Carlos and Rudy's track records will positively effect the team in a way that has not happened before. "We are thankful for DJ Bechtel for getting us off the ground in season one and doing a fantastic job in the head coaches role, and Trent for stepping in last season to coach as injury kept him from playing. With that being said, the WWPL is growing rapidly, in size and in level of play. Adding Carlos and Rudy helps us take that first step towards getting back to where we want to be, lifting the WWPL trophy. Their professionalism combined with their knowledge of the game, plus our combined aligned values makes them a great fit to head up the team this year." Carlos Parra's early playing career saw him be the first player to sign with MLS Project 40. He went on to play for various MLS clubs including the MetroStars (now New York Red Bulls), Miami Fusion, and the New England Revolutions. After his playing career ended in 2003, he went on to coach full time for various youth clubs around the Southeast United States. He also spent 2018 as the head coach of the Puerto Rican women's national team. Along with coaching at these clubs, he has also held roles such as Technical Director, Direct of Player Development and Director of Soccer Operations. He most recently took a job with Pateadores, an academy program based out of Bellevue. He holds his USSF "A" Youth License, USSF "A" Training Center Staff License and holds his NSCAA Director of Coaching Diploma. Rudy Lawrence has been a club coach for Pateadores for several years now. He is currently the U18 Academy Boy's Coach for Pats. He played college for four years at Cornell, and has coached at the PDL level back on the east coast. He had also started PASS Academy before joining forces with Pateadores.
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The 2020 season is right around the corner! There are many exciting things that will be happening in the WWPL. The final teams have been set for the season as Division 2 rounded out in December of 2019. The Divisions will break down like this:
Division 1: XF Redmond Nido Aguila Club America Federal Way FC Kirkland FC Grays Harbor Gulls Snohomish County Division 2: ISC Gunners Harbor Force Lacey FC Gala FC Port Townsend Nido u-19 The promotion/relegation experiment in lower league soccer in Washington adds the ability for more teams to compete without creating a massive, convoluted league. "We are excited to see how this season turns out," says owner Trent Siedenburg, "and obviously will be pushing for the title. 2019 was showed great growth for the league, but was a wake up call for us. We will need to step up as a club if we want to go for the league title." The last major decisions for the league will be made within the next couple of weeks, including a new home field and a new head coach (stay tuned for those announcements!!) Tryouts are scheduled for February 29th at Robinswood Field 1 in Bellevue. Tryout time is 7PM to 9PM. If you would like to tryout for the Goats, register here! Once the home field is announce, season tickets will go on sale. Make sure to look out for 2019 comes to a close today and like most people do, I thought it would be good idea to look at how 2019 went for Kirkland FC. There were plenty of ups and downs and there are plenty of opportunities for growth moving forward. Here are some of the highlights of 2019... February 27th - 2019 Season Tryouts: 48 players showed up to tryouts! This was an increase from year one with 23 players. We appreciated everyone who came out, and we can't wait to see everyone again! March 3rd - Friendly vs Nido Aguila: March 3rd was historic for multiple reasons. It was the first action of the season for the Goats and there was an instant rivalry created between the two clubs (Kirkland FC and Nido would play each other 3 more times this season). Nido Aguila had been accepted into the league in the off season and they immediately boosted the level of play and professionalism in the league.  Nido Aguila before the season started had created a partnership with Club America of Liga MX in Mexico. Their working partnership brought multiple representatives from Mexico to the first game in Nido Aguila history! The game ended in a 0-0 draw, but had plenty of action. The atmosphere was fantastic with over 300 people in attendance, including Club America's official supporters group based in Portland.  March 16th, Friendly vs Seattle Stars:
We took on Seattle Stars at home, and won 1-0 on a Kieren Raney goal. This was our first win of the season. March 29th -31st, Eddie Craggs Memorial Tournament: Kirkland FC entered the Eddie Craggs Memorial Cup based out of Starfire. The tournament is a preseason tournament for adult amateur clubs, and it was the our first time participating in the tournament. We finished the tournament with a record of one win, one draw, and two losses. The first loss against Nido Aguila on the 29th was the first lost in any competition in club history. We also played the Seattle Stars, Oly Town Artesians of the EPLWA, and the Navy men's club based out of Everett. April 27th, First Home vs Harbor Force: We won our first league game of the season, beating Harbor Force 10-0 at home. Month of May: We finished the month of May with two wins out of two, beating ISC Gunners away 5-0 and Lacey FC away 1-0. Month of June: Kirkland FC lost their first WWPL game in their history, losing to Federal Way at home. We turned around the next day and played Washington Premier of the EPLWA in the Quarterfinals of the Washington Super Cup competition. It was a thriller, finishing 3-2 in favor of the Goats. We rounded out the month with draws against eventual champions Snohomish Steelheads and Grays Harbor Gulls, a win vs BeSea and a loss to Crossfire. Month of July: Kirkland FC lost in the semi final of the Super Cup away to Nido Aguila by a score of 2-1. Nido went on to win the first Super Cup in history. We then went on to play Tacoma Narrows away, collecting a win in an incredible game finishing 4-3. In the final game of the season, we lost to Nido Aguila at home 2-0. We finished the WWPL season with a record of 5-2-3, placing us in 5th of 11 teams which kept us in the top division of the 2019 season! Overall Record: We finished the season with an overall record of 8-4-5. In some aspects, this was a down season for us, especially comparing this record to 2018's record. However, a take away is the league did improve, and that is a call for us to improve in 2020. There is plenty of room to grow in 2020 and we cannot wait to get this new season underway! I hope everyone enjoyed this recap! If you want to get more Goats news, make sure to subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on all social media platforms. Have a Happy New Year! Author: Trent Siedenburg, Owner Kirkland FC  As 2019 comes to a close, Kirkland FC starts making preparations for the 2020 season. One of the important roles that needed to be filled was that of Social Media Manager. "Our presence over social media platforms has done us well in the past, but needs to continue to grow," says owner Trent Siedenburg. "We are excited to bring Agazi Birnker to the team to help us achieve our growth goals."
Agazi "Gaz" Birkner comes to the Kirkland FC staff with plenty of experience in the field of social media. Gaz is pursuing a degree in marketing from Northwest University and has played for the Goats the last two seasons, making over 25 appearances in goal. He has managed multiple social media accounts for sports organizations, and has done an exceptional job creating and growing the Northwest University Men's Soccer platform. "I couldn't be more excited to bring Gaz onto our management team, "says Siedenburg. "He has an affinity for all things social media and has been a great member of our team on the field. I am confident that with him, we will be able to bring more creative and consistent content to all Goats fans." Make sure to follow all our accounts (Facebook, Instagram and Twitter) to keep up to date with everything Kirkland FC! 2019 proved to be a tougher year for Kirkland FC than 2018. After achieving a large amount of success in their first year, the second season of play saw the Goats finish 5th in the league standings. This came at a surprise to many people, but owner Trent Siedenburg thinks it shows signs of how the league is growing. "It was tough finishing 5th after winning the league the season before. In my head, we would achieve closer, if not the same success in 2019. In my mind, we built an even stronger team in year two, so I thought we were a shoe in to win the league," said owner Trent Siedenburg. "That might have played a part in our drop-off. The level of competition grew tremendously from 2018 to 2019 because the level of play the new. Four of the five teams that joined finished above us. To me that shows we as a club did not do enough to make the mental and physical adjustments necessary to compete with new clubs full of talented players and coaches." Thought it was not where the Goats wanted to finish, there is a positive to take away. Going into the 2020 season, the 11 team league will be split into First and Second Division, creating a Promotion/Relegation system. This would be the first Pro/Rel system at this level of play in the State of Washington. Thankfully for the Goats, they finished in the top six, meaning they would stay in the First Division for the 2020 season. "The First Division is where we want to be, and we are happy that we were able to achieve that. Now our goal on the field for 2020 is to get back to winning trophies again" explained Elijah Gordon, co-founder of Kirkland FC. If you want to receive more information about Kirkland FC, subscribe to the Newsletter below. Each month the Newsletter will provide updates on Tryouts, schedules, club news and more. There will also be merchandise promotions and discounts, so be sure to sign up! |
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