"Our spring practice is going well despite some incredibly low numbers of players available for training.  Our large senior class from fall ’07 (seven) has left us with a small returning team for spring and many of them are having injury and illness issues.  We have had a great attitude at training, however, which has made up for the small numbers."  
 

"It’s important to train and play year around in our sport.  Skills, fitness, touch and tactical play with teammates cannot ever really stop if you expect to field a winning team at the D1 level.  A number of our younger players are seeing significant game time for first time so the playing experience for them is very important.  In addition, we need to use spring practice and games to “remake” our new team and begin to prepare for who will play where and what team tactics we will employ next fall (’08)."  
 

"We had a 5-2-1 record from playing a fairly tough non-conference schedule heading into Pac-10 play last fall.  We suffered some key injuries along the way and by the first weekend of Pac-10 play we lost the services of our stand-out goalkeeper Rylan Hawkins and our leading scorer from 2006 (‘06 Pac-10 player of the year – Kevin Forrest). We struggled in the first round of pac-10 games (1 win out of possible 5 games) but really gathered ourselves and made a run to the NCAA tournament down the stretch that I am very proud of.  With every reason to quit, some key players like Stephen Fung and Ely Allen stepped up led us back into the post-season playoff picture!"   
 

"We have lost some key attacking players and must be sure we fill those spots with effective replacements.  The current forwards we have in place will get every chance to show if they can make a positive impact in 2008.  In addition, we expect for our freshman recruits to have a big early chance at some key playing time if they show they are ready.  George John will be our captain and leader and we anticipate him having a huge senior season.  The only other senior we have is Raphael Cox and think a big year from him could really be key for us. Others will also need to step up and help us find ways to score goals."
 

The Huskies and Sounders are annual spring match foes.

"We have a recruiting class of nine (7 from in-state) and we expect many of them to have an immediate positive impact on the field for us.  The three that you would expect to stand out for us would be Casey McCool, Brent Richards and Dylan Tucker-Gangnes.  All three have great potential in attacking areas and that is our biggest need at this time.  The others not mentioned here may also surprise some people.  We think our entire class of recruits has much to offer either immediately or later down the road."  
 

"As back-to back Pac-10 men’s soccer champs, Cal is certainly in our sights.  UCLA will always field a team of All-Star players and we expect Stanford to be much improved."  

Taylor Cochran gets extra work for the Dawgs by playing for Tacoma Tide FC in the summer.

"Summer PDL play keeps the players in game shape and they enjoy it.  Unfortunately for Steve Mohn, it can sometimes expose you to injury (he broke his leg with the Tide last July) but more times than not, it's helpful for the players to keep their game going over the summer months.  We already have some our players committed to playing for the Tide again this summer.  For the players who haven’t gotten a great deal of game experience with us, (Cochran, Macaluso, Day etc.) this summer play can be important for their development."
 

"The Seattle soccer scene continues to grow, change and develop.  The arrival of the MLS team in Seattle is huge and will offer our city the top of the pyramid for the professional game in the USA.   We will now be counted as a real “player” in the USA soccer market and more soccer fans around the US will get to know more about our great city.  The Sounders have done a great job to keep successful professional soccer going in this city so we could take advantage of this MLS opportunity.  
 
I think it’s great we have strong youth teams in both the US Soccer Development Academy and in local WA State Youth Soccer.  Our best young players can compete with any youth players from around the US.  

UW soccer will always have an important role to play in the local community as we offer an incredibly high level of play and development while our players study and work towards a college degree.  Many of our very best players will aspire to star at the professional level and hopefully with our local MLS team. "