5/5/2026

We’re tired of hearing the complaints that Soccer doesn’t get the respect that it deserves. Many still place soccer as a second tier sport. Despite the success of the Seattle Sounders the top level of Lumen Field is still closed. The fact remains that soccer is still not at the level of interest as the big 4 traditional sports that dominate the big Networks.

We believe it should be and there is a big movement behind soccer right now with the World Cup about to start, soccer clubs everywhere a huge minor league system in place here in Washington things are moving in the right direction. But then you go and try to get too unique, too quirky and it does not help.

We’re going to focus on the High School level and why isn’t soccer even bigger than it is? We can go down the club vs school team rabbit hole but for argument sakes let’s just say both have a big place in the development of the sport. The big difference is playing for the true State Championship with decades of history is still the most coveted big trophy to win in all of high school age competitions.

Our issue isn’t with that argument or reasons why some kids believe it is in their best interest not to play for their school and play club exclusively. Our only point is this, less than 7% of all high school athletes go on to play any kind of college sports. That means that a minimum of 93% of all high school players playing careers end when they graduate high school. 

That being said, that makes winning a WIAA State Championship HUGELY important. You win one of these in your senior year you’re likely never going to play significant competitive sports ever again and at the age of 18 you’re done.

 So why can’t soccer do a few things to help make their sport more attractive to fans and would-be fans? Why are we still dealing with the same ridiculous formats of the same game?

A few years ago the SPSL 4A had this stupid standings system that was so convoluted that coaches had to create their own spreadsheet to try and follow who was actually in first place or who had a shot at getting into the play-offs. Fans would show up and have no way of knowing if it was an important match or not.

When we went to cover many of these matches, we couldn’t promote if this was for 1st place or was even an important match. We looked at the standings and wins and losses and ties meant nothing because there was this secret scoring system of what wins, losses and ties were more important than others. We’re not talking about league and non-league we’re talking about LEAGUE matches.

The SPSL 4A got smart and did away that system and went to the traditional 3 points for a win and 1 for a tie system.

We thought that was the end of the weirdness and realized we really don’t know what any league uses. The rules of soccer in Washington State are a combination of the NFHS national rules and FIFA. This leads to individual leagues open to creating their own rules and scoring systems. And we ran into another weird system that only coaches know who truly is in 1st place.

The EVCO 2A is a league that is one that plays all matches to a win, no ties with two golden goal OT’s and then PKs to determine a winner in each league match. Under this system there is no need for points, there is a winner and loser in each match. Records should be the difference in determining final placings. There are potential for ties with the same record but regular tie-breakers can be in place to break those ties with the first being wins against each other then goal differential and so on.

But no, that’s not what the EVCO 2A does they have a point system. 3 points for a win unless you go to PKs. You get 2 points for a win and 1 point for losing. Let us say this, if you decide to go to OT and PKs there is no need for a point system. None, period.

All this did was create a situation that no casual fan can possibly follow let alone players and coaches. 

Coming into tonight’s (Tuesday) matches looking at the standings it could very easily turn into a 4 way tie for 1st place. Tumwater and Aberdeen are both 6-3. Centralia and WF West are both 5-4. Centralia is at Aberdeen and Tumwater at WF West. If the Tigers and Bearcats both win it would create a 4-way 6-4 tie.

Going into this week we thought there were going to be matches that truly mattered and that this whole league is coming down to the final night. But then we found out that is not the case.

Due to the point system, two teams are locked into their final positions. WF West is 4th no matter what and will play a District play-in game on Thursday at Hudson’s Bay. Tumwater will be home on Saturday as the League Champion regardless of the outcome of their final league match on Tuesday and they will host RA Long in the opening round of the District tournament.

So that means the only thing left to decide is if Aberdeen or Centralia will be 2nd. If the Tigers win they will clinch 2nd place with their 2nd win over the Bobcats. If Aberdeen wins they will be 2nd in the league.

Did you pay attention to all this? So, let’s say Tumwater loses because they have nothing to play for first of all tonight at WF West and secondly the top 4 teams are all very close to each other so a Bearcat home win would not be a surprise. Then let’s say Aberdeen beats Centralia which also would not be a surprise. What would the final standings look like?

Aberdeen 7-3
Tumwater 6-4
WF West 6-4
Centralia 5-5

These would be the final standings with 2nd place going to tie-breakers between Tumwater and the Bearcats right? This is how playing to win or lose without ties is determined right?

Answer: WRONG!!

If that scenario plays out the final standings based on points that give a losing team a cookie for sending it to PK’s will be this….

League Champs Tumwater 6-4
2nd Aberdeen 7-3
3rd Centralia 5-5
4th WF West 6-4

Please explain in any sense of reality that a team, in a league with no ties, that has the most wins is not the league Champion? We don’t know what the point of this idiotic system is and why anyone thinks this is a good idea and good for the game.

We can’t imagine buying a ticket to go watch a game that will have a winner only to find out the some wins don’t count as much as other wins. We have been told many of the players don’t even know they don’t have a chance to win the league even if they win tonight. Again, Tumwater already has the top seed heading into districts and host RA Long on Saturday. WF West cannot finish better than 4th no matter what and are on the road at Hudson’s Bay on Thursday.

If Centralia wins at Aberdeen they will be 2nd and get to host as district game on Saturday and if Aberdeen wins they are 2nd and are home Saturday. The loser will be 3rd and get to host a play-in game on Thursday.

This is just the latest example of how one league can go do their own thing and make all the stupid rules they want with no regard to the players and fans. They may think they are doing something that is for the players but they are not. If players don’t even know what place they’re in or that a good chance at a potential 4-way tie means virtually nothing because losing teams are rewarded for taking longer to lose than others is pretty tough to explain and cannot be found in the definition of the word competition.

Final Point

Soccer is the ONLY High School sport that all teams playing at all classifications can play with different rules. Why doesn’t some basketball leagues add a 4-point line or get rid of traveling? Football leagues should add a 3-point PAT from the 25. Let every league come up with their own rules. The fans and players would love not knowing what the actual standings are and whether or not a game or match is actually important.

The fact that fans, players and even coaches aren’t quite sure what their standing is heading into any game or match is ridiculous. This is a huge reason why soccer remains in many sports fans eyes a 2nd tier sport. It’s one thing to have the quirky rules like throwing a ball in from the 35 when it went out at the 30. Just play. Or a foul is called, spot the ball and kick get back to playing. All great stuff.

But when you mess with what should be the most simple and easy to understand part of league competition such as a team with a 7-3 record should always…ALWAYS be better than a team with a 6-4 record when you play to a win and there are no ties.

I get the point system, for me not my favorite but I can understand it and more importantly I can follow it. I can quickly figure out the points if they are not listed on the standings and figure out who is in the lead or if this match is important.

You want more fans? Then you need to make following your sport not some complicated Calculus word problem that leads to a world that teams with less wins finish higher in the standings in a sport that does not have ties.

Most of us that are fans of soccer are screaming at the leaders of this sport in Washington state to pick a set of rules for EVERYONE. If you want the traditional 3 points for a win and 1 point for a tie, great! We’re on board.

If it’s OT’s and PK’s then a point system is not needed and it’s like every other team sport with winning being the thing that matters no matter how long it takes you. Along with traditional tiebreakers already used in football, basketball, baseball, volleyball and softball. That’s OK too. 

Include all of us trying to learn your game and trying to be a fan and the first way is to make sure we all can figure out who is in 1st place by looking at the standings.

Time to stop trying to be so different than everyone else, it’s not cute anymore.

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