Everyone around the state of Washington knows that Federal Way produces some of the best soccer players year in and year out.
Now, America knows.
The Federal Way school district placed a pair of players on PARADE’s 2010 All-America High School Boys Soccer Team. Recent Federal Way High School graduate Kelyn Rowe and Beamer senior-to-be Sean Ugo Okoli were honored on the 35-player team earlier this month in the nationally-distributed magazine.
Nick Palodichuk, a midfielder from Battle Ground, Wash., was named the national Player of the Year by PARADE. This year, as a junior at Camas High School, Palodichuk scored 26 goals in 15 games. The threesome where the only All-Americans from Washington.
Rowe, who will play at UCLA in the fall, proved to be one of the best players in the country during his senior season for the Federal Way Eagles. The forward led Federal Way into the state playoffs for the first time since he played as a freshman. The Eagles ended up finishing in fourth place after Rowe wasn’t able to play during the state Final Four because he flew out to Florida with his club team, Crossfire Premier, for a national-level showcase that same weekend.
Rowe was in Florida in an attempt to turn some heads of the coaching staff of the United States National Team.
Rowe scored 32 of the Eagles’ 49 goals and had an eye-popping 25 goals in Federal Way’s last 10 games. Rowe also scored nine of the Eagles’ 11 goals during their four-game postseason winning streak that ended in a state semifinal loss to Lake Stevens.
To put Rowe’s offensive season in perspective all somebody has to do is look at last year, when the Eagles finished 2-11-3. During the 2009 season, which Rowe didn’t play to concentrate on club soccer, Federal Way’s entire team scored only 12 goals with a pretty similar roster.
“He is the best player in the state,” said Federal Way head coach Jason Baumgardt.
Okoli was also a beast this season for the Titans. As a junior, Okoli led Beamer with seven goals and into the state playoffs after finishing second in the South Puget Sound League South Division. The forward will be one of the top recruits on the West Coast entering his senior season.
But Okoli missed Beamer’s state quarterfinal loss to Rowe’s Federal Way team because he was traveling to Portugal to play with the United States’ Under-18 National Team.
As a sophomore, Okoli was a first-team, All-State selection after scoring 22 goals and dishing out nine assists. Okoli also had seven goals for his club team, Washington Premier FC, during the US Soccer Development Academy.
