Led by Soeum twins, Young Franklin Pierce boys soccer team is tearing through 2A SPSL

A lot of things have gone right for the Franklin Pierce High School boys soccer team so far this season.

For starters, the Cardinals are back to playing a full soccer season for the first time since 2019. The 2020 season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and 2021 was only seven games long (they finished with a 4-2-1 record). This year the Cardinals finally have their opportunity to gel and build chemistry for a full-length season.

That’s exactly what they’re doing. Franklin Pierce is playing at a highly competitive level with a record of 8-0-1. The Cardinals also sit atop the 2A South Puget Sound League standings.

They are winning close matches against perennial league contenders like Fife, Clover Park and Enumclaw. Their offense has produced 30 goals so far this season, while the defense has surrendered only three. Their one tie was 1-1 against White River, yet another strong program.

“We have a good record, but there are a lot of one-goal games. These other teams are so good,” said coach Brandon Henry. “We won 1-0 against Clover Park on a last-minute goal. And Fife is always good. We were down 1-0 until the last five minutes when we scored twice. You look at the record and it shows that we are coming out on top, but it has not felt dominating … It’s like we are the team that doesn’t know how good we can be.”

From a quick glance at the standings, it would seem the Cardinals have dominated so far this year. While that rings true in terms of wins and losses, there’s still chances for growth, given how young the roster is.

There are seven starting sophomores but just two seniors on the roster. Because Christ Moo suffered a season-ending injury, Micah Armstrong is left as the only active senior.

That means that younger players like sophomore twins Preston and Marvin Soeum are out there getting minutes and experience that will carry over for two more seasons with the Cardinals.

“I like the feeling of competition, but I love the feeling of winning,” Preston said. “It’s very fun and I think we are very organized for a high school team. I think [coach Henry] is really good at organizing our team … Our team is very young. But I think that’s an advantage because we have some players that are very, very hyper. They love defending and getting off the ball. And [Armstrong] puts us on a good path to keep winning.”

Some sophomores like Preston and Marvin instantly walked into a starting position when they tried out for the Cardinals after a large group of seniors graduated in 2020.

They play with a free feeling. Even in their warm-ups, the players are just kicking the ball around and goofing off with each other. It has helped loosen them up before a game.

That looseness is working for the Cardinals.

“They’re kind of just playing free because they are only sophomores. And they have been starting for two years now because [they had] no one to learn from,” Henry said. “They are as a group learning how to play. [Armstrong] was out of town, so we had no seniors for the past two games. We also have three starting juniors, but these [sophomores] are just kind of playing freely … Having this group of guys that don’t feel any pressure is a different experience.”

When their confidence is high, this squad is a handful for other teams to try to scheme against.

That’s where players like Marvin and Preston shine. Preston facilitates where the ball is going for his team, while Marvin capitalizes on open opportunities.

“Our strategy is called ‘back and through,’ where I as the first forward pass the ball first to the second forward. He then runs in from out wide to play it through so there is an open space,” Marvin said. “He just crosses it and I tap it in. That’s how I have been able to score most of my goals.”

Offensively, that’s how Henry wants his team to operate: as an attacking squad, keeping the ball up the field and winning possessions.

The defense has also found its own niche way of playing that is working. It is a stout unit, yet there are young players trying to figure out how to play with each other.

That leads to sophomores making mistakes like overrunning an opposing player. Because they are confidently aggressive, one Cardinal defender can miss his guy but have a teammate right there to help make up for the missed coverage.

“They are very aggressive and confident individuals who can cover for each other,” Henry said. “And when you play as aggressively as they do and without abandon, they do things that a senior wouldn’t do. It’s almost like they haven’t made the mistakes to learn from them, so they just play aggressively. And it works for them because they’re out there covering for each other.”

The Cardinals are off for a week until a game against Clover Park at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 19 at Clover Park High School.