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What's going on, everybody? Welcome to a very special episode of Lobbing Scorchers featuring the one and own Corey Henthorne, general manager of West Seattle Junction. If you don't know who West Seattle Junction are. Corey's going to tell us a lot more about them, so stay tuned. We've got a lot to cover. We've got drama, potentially, is what I've heard. I've heard there might be a little drama in this episode, but we are going to dive in right now. Corey, welcome.
Thank you. Appreciate it. Why don't you start with telling us a little bit about yourself, including your... a graduate of wazoo correct yeah yeah i am yeah so you're in enemy territory a little bit enemy territory i like to say there's a lot of cougs over here on the west side you know but it's it's lucky we don't have a men's soccer team uh at wazoo so I can kind of...
Disconnect a little bit about that and and root on the UW men's team. I'm coming around on the UW women. I think, you know, we have a few of those on the West Seattle roadies, our brand new USLW women's team. So, yeah.
no and we'll be uh also talking some roadies here as well soon so stay tuned for that so yeah tell us a little bit about yourself how did you get involved with the junction how long have you been around and what's your title what it kind of means yeah of course um so i joined the staff last year around january um and uh i basically just brought my resume down to the open tryouts and um
enough they they were looking for people to add and uh actually my former goalkeeper coach is one of the owners and so I had a little bit of an in and uh needed an internship and so They slotted me in, and I just took as much responsibility as they allowed me to have. It just continued to develop over year one with the club. And now coming into year two, they needed somebody to kind of step into a general manager role. And lucky enough, I was the candidate they went with.
Heck yeah. So obviously a new operation. for you guys. Was last year the first full season in USL League 2, is that correct? Yeah, so Junction we joined last year, so obviously Ballard had a few years. Ahead of us, you have an established team down in Eugene, Lane United, and then Oldytown, another really great established team. Friends of the show. Oh, yeah. We've got another podcast, The Cooler Guild. And their women's team, GM, is the host. Oh, that's great.
What's the response been like from the West Seattle community? You know, it's not necessarily if I was thinking of neighborhoods or locations in Seattle where I would expect another USL League team to pop up. know if that would have been the first one that came to mind but like once I learned more about it it does make sense how would you kind of just describe the the scene and the response that you guys have gotten since you got rolling here oh it's been incredible
You know, I'm born and raised West Seattle, and so seeing the reaction has been incredible. We were averaging right around 600, 700 fans our first season, obviously looking to build off of that. But I believe we were right. under Ballard for attendance last year. Ballard drew a fantastic crowd when we hosted them. About a thousand people showed up to that. But to be honest, West Seattle is a soccer community. It's a soccer neighborhood.
West Seattle Soccer Club, the rec league, the rec youth league there is very established. So many young players coming out of West Seattle. It was a perfect opportunity for us to fill that gap of pre-professional right in that neighborhood. Is it like... Would you say it's pretty similar in terms of the players that you guys get to how Ballard does it, like college guys, D1 guys? Is that the typical profile of player that you guys are putting on your rosters? Yeah, I mean, we definitely...
We go after D1 guys. I would say that we really look into the D2 and D3, even community college level. And that gives our team some of the grit that you saw last year. We really... We really think that some of those guys have been overlooked in the recruiting season. The idea of pre-professional is developing these players and getting them to where they want to be, ideally professionally. But if we have a D3 player who really wants to find a D1 program, we're looking to assist them in that.
But yeah, it's very similar to Ballard. We work very closely with local colleges. And then we do some of our own recruiting outside of Washington as well. Nice. Yeah, I think it's really interesting, the gap that... usl2 and even usl1 is filling for this like like you were saying the pre-professional but guys who maybe haven't gotten a look yet or
people who just love playing and want to play more. I mean, I, I played, I played three whole games of D three, you know, not to brag myself, but like, I know if I would have. continued on that journey, it would have just been like, I just want to play. I want to be out there. And I'm, I'm interested to know, you know, like, does that bring more just excitement from players and just like, it's more of a kind of everyone's coming together to just.
play and kick ass. Yeah, I think you see a wide variety of expectations when players come into our program. And we really try to set the standard that... this isn't a summer kick around, you know? Yeah, yeah. We want these guys to go out there and compete and obviously put on a show out on the field. But it's a very interesting dynamic having guys come from all over the country.
and join this team and represent the community. And so it's super fun seeing D3 guys match up against D1 guys. And you can really see it's different than a lot of other sports in the United States. There's a lot of quality. still out there in the community college level in the division three division two level that just didn't get picked up by one of those major programs yeah that's interesting you know a lot of people have said
And we've, I mean, we've even talked about it, how the super draft in MLS at least has kind of lost a little bit of its shine. People aren't necessarily finding the superstar talent, at least out of college programs, but. what I'm hearing from you is it's out there still. And like they, there are players in, you know, places like the junction are helping elevate those, those players. Yeah. I mean, that's our goal. Um, I think.
professional soccer in the United States is a grind. You'll see a lot of guys bouncing around professional programs, dropping back down to amateur, and it's just... trying to find your way. Some guys get the opportunity. We have guys from our first year who have gone on trial at various places. it doesn't work out and they're coming back to us. And so we really try to uplift those guys and give them the best shot to go chase their dream.
USL League 2 GM, what is the strategy and approach? Like, how are you thinking of what players to try and get on the team? Is there specific types? profiles and identity or places you look, just how does that whole thing kind of come together? Me and Ari are trying to become GMs. We talked about this on the podcast. No, we're going to pick your brain here. I heard it on your last podcast, I believe. You guys went down the GM survey.
Yes. We didn't have some nice things to say about GM, so I'm surprised you showed up. I know, I know, I know. You guys probably could do my job. No, definitely not. Definitely not. You know, so I think year one, it was difficult. it's hard to know the talent that you have until you see it out on the field. And with the nature of our league, you don't get to see that until really the entire team comes together in mid-May and we're already playing. And so...
Year one, it was difficult. We definitely learned a lot of stuff. But year two, I think we wanted our core to return. And so we have about 20 players returning from last year who are going to set the standard. And then... it's looking at depth where where were we you know Where did we pick up injuries a lot over last season? Where do we think we can strengthen the team? I know we focused a lot this offseason on shoring up our defense. We had a lot of injuries in our back line last year.
This year we have a lot of flexibility there. We're really excited about the different players we're bringing on there. And then also adding depth in the midfield. You know, we think that just a bit more quality in the midfield there would have really helped us last season.
But, yeah, so, I mean, we have 20 guys coming back. That gives us a big room. We carry 40 on our roster, so quite a big roster. Oh, wow, yeah. You got an NFL roster going on. Yeah, yeah. So it's interesting. The dynamics are interesting. When we all practice, when we get out to the fields, the guys are really competing. 40 guys on a roster, you know, and there's only 18 spots on game day.
And so it's pretty fun. It's pretty fun to watch the competitiveness. Our practices are really high level and they get after it. Yeah. I wanted to ask, just getting to know the West Seattle Junction more, who... So one for one, who's the rival, right? I mean, you talked a little bit about Ballard. Maybe that's giving away too much, but there are a lot of teams locally in USL too.
Yeah, I mean, Ballard's the easy one. It's the regional one, you know, and I think everybody's kind of chasing what Ballard has a little bit and the success that they've found, you know. On the business side of things, we definitely look up to them and we want to take some of the things that they've done and grow on that, make it our own. obviously with attendance and their fan base, but also just game day stuff, bringing in musicians and things like that. And so we really want to build on that.
But once we get out on the field, we do not like them. We do not like Ballard. And I'll be the first one to say that, you know. I was able to, before our home match against them last year, give a little speech to the boys. Unfortunately, we didn't come away with a W there, but we're looking forward to it this year.
We only have one game and it's at their place. And so we're going to come in and we're going to show them that the junction's here. There's going to be a sellout. It's already looking that way. Hopefully they allocate us some tickets and we'll have a little... away section you know supporting us as well yeah hey ari and i will be there
I want to go to that game. You got to be there. You got to be there. Support Ballard, of course, support Ballard, but also root on your junction blues and wear your hats out there. There we go. Yeah. One more on that. I think it's so interesting because. In American soccer specifically, rivalries or just games in general, away games are played so far away from each other. So it is really cool to kind of have that.
you know, that English style inner city rivalry, like a Man City, Man United or whatever it may be. Like at games that are also like super approachable, like I'm sure, you know, I mean, maybe you can share a little bit about like pricing for tickets and stuff like that. But, you know, some people have been put off by. the prices of major league soccer tickets or just other sporting events in general. But this seems like something where you can literally be invested on the.
the level of neighborhood and on top of that like getting at a good price absolutely and that's one of our biggest missions is to kind of break down the barriers to entry for for the game of soccer um both in terms of our fan base, but also with players coming in. So our tickets are priced at $15 a match, even cheaper if you buy season tickets, and we think that's really important. Professional sports in the U.S.
tickets just continue to rise. And so for a lot of low-income families, even middle-class families, it's really difficult to be engaged. And so we really want to open that up and invite these people to come watch really quick. quality soccer for extremely cheap. You know, come to our match and watch these guys who are striving to be pros and then inspire that generation of youth who can look up to our players and say, hey, I want to be that guy. I want to represent West Seattle.
Seattle in the future. So that's a big mission of ours. And then on the player side as well, our players don't pay anything to be on the team. We take care of everything for them from uniforms. to physical therapy. That's one of our biggest things. We want our players to be healthy. Obviously, a lot of them are going back to their college programs come fall. And so being able to return them back to that program, you know, healthy.
or healthier than they came to us, that's huge. Do you have players staying with host families, or how does that work as far as their... Yeah, so we have a lot of local players who will just travel to our practice field and everything. But for players that we recruit who don't have a home in Seattle, we... We give them a place to stay at a local family's house. Some of our sponsors have been very kind to open their house up. I hosted a player last year. That was really fun.
We try to take good care of them and give them to a place where all they have to think about is going on the field and competing to the best of their ability. I'm interested to know a little bit more about what you were talking about, about, you know, returning players. They don't have to pay. Is that something?
that happens in in usl2 um you know i i don't know uh around our division i believe the the the mission there is is pretty similar yeah um but if you compare it against summer leagues and baseball
A lot of those players have to actually pay to be on the team, which we wanted to break that down. I mean, ultimately, League Two is about breaking down the pay-to-play model in the United States, giving people another... route to be able to compete at the highest level um you know you see in u.s sports uh
Continuing your athletic career is always tied to higher education, which we could debate about that if that's healthy or not. But League Two gives an alternate route to players who might not want to go to college. and they can still get seen. Even the UPSL with Bellevue Athletic and some of the clubs locally here are giving players a real opportunity to find a different route.
How would you describe the core values of your program? Like when a player joins West Seattle Junction, what are you trying to instill? What do you hope they get out of it? when they're done with the stint on your team compared to when they come into it? Yeah, I would say community is a huge one.
It kind of goes in the question you asked previously, what are we looking for in players? We really... drive that the community aspect is huge we want them to be involved we want them talking to our littlest of fans signing autographs after the game and really being involved that you know going out to sponsor events and interacting we want them to become a part of the West Seattle community and the West Seattle family. I would say passion for the game.
is a huge one. We want players to come here and really care. Care about winning, of course, but care about their teammates and striving to be... the best they can. And we really saw that in year one with our players. They became a really tight-knit group. You'll see them.
frequently on social media, uh, uplifting each other. Um, we've had some unfortunate injuries, uh, this year and you'll see you guys, you know, supporting each other. And so that's what we're looking to do. Um, passion community, uh, and just continuing to, uh,
develop the game in the United States. You know, who this season are we going to be able to look, you know, you say you're returning a lot of players, obviously, but, you know, who are you looking forward to come and see play with the junction? So a new player that we have coming in, he was previously at St. Francis University, just got a transfer to Rutgers. His name is Joshy Shelb. We think he's going to be top for us.
We think he's going to be class at the 10 and really score goals and create. And so we had a little bit of a gap in that area last season. We really think that he can fill those shoes. But, you know, to add on top of that, we needed a little bit of clinical finishing at our striker position. And so, you know, we're going to announce it in a few days' time. So it should be announced when we... when we drop this video, but we are bringing on Alex Mejia, previously of Ballard FC.
to come play the nine for us here in West Seattle. And so we think that's huge. He just got some minutes there in the U.S. Open Cup match against the Velocity, and he played quite well, even though they ended up... falling uh there and so we're really excited to have him it it drives the rivalry a little bit as well um and so it's going to be exciting to see him out on the field who was the player that went to portland from seattle re was that
Well, I mean, I feel like there's been a couple. I think Kenny Cooper played for both. Zach Wani actually played for both. Zach. Yeah, Zach Wani. Classic. So this is a real Zach Wani situation, you know? It is. It is. And we think he's going to do great things for us. And so we're excited to get him out on the field. You know, everybody's buzzing. Was that like a big first GM moment for you of snaking a player from a rival? Was that like a little GM milestone?
I mean, it was a little bit sweet. You know, I think we have to just see how everything plays out on the field. I don't think we're going to be too excited if we don't make playoffs this season. That's the goal. You know, we want to go out there. We want to win our division. You know, and with that, obviously, there's that date on our calendar of Ballard. We want to get them. But ultimately, come mid-July.
We want to be at the top of the division. And so regardless of the players that we can attract to our program, I think that as a GM, I just want to see us reach that milestone.
Is it hard to establish like a... on-field identity when you're recruiting a USL League 2 roster where it seems like maybe there might be some obstacles as far as, you know, really keying in on a specific type of player stylistically is that something that you've encountered or how do you kind of manage to instill that identity while also kind of trying to give everyone a chance and also creating this big 40-man roster that you guys have.
Yeah, it's difficult. It is difficult. And the players gelling together in such a short period of time is tough. You know, I really respect our head coach, Eric Oman. His philosophy about the game is that... we can play any system with the players that we have. And it's really, you know, it's up to the players on the field to develop.
how we want to attack. We want to be really tidy in the back, and so that's what we'll start with, is making sure our defense is sound. But then as we move forward up the pitch, Coach Oman really gives those players freedom to play with creativity. And I think that really helps us in a season like this that's so condensed that players can find a lot of freedom when they play in his system. And I think that gives.
us an advantage to something more rigid. That's fun. That's fun soccer to watch too. League 2 is a fun style, back and forth, pretty entertaining. like high octane is the league two that i've watched yeah yeah yeah and that's our goal we want to put on a show right you know we want to win games but we want uh the the soccer that we play to to really be fun to watch
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40% off. So there's no excuse not to load up on some brand new gear. Get yourself looking right for the new season. So check out MLS store by clicking the link in our description or going to lobbying scorchers.com. Every purchase helps support the show and keep us going. telenovela for this Ballard game. I'm excited for this. We were at Spokane Velocity versus Ballard in the Open Cup last year. We weren't at the one that was just a couple days ago. But that was...
that was a crazy game. Honestly, like it was zero zero right until the last second Spokane velocity came through with the goal, like right at the very end, but it was a, it was electric. That one that was at inner bay and no, that was at Memorial Memorial. But I've been to a couple at Interbay as well, and it's a whole scene. Yeah, they pretty much played the same match two years in a row. You know, I think Ballard was actually pretty unlucky in both matches not to...
to find a goal. Oh, absolutely. The one we were at. This year, 120th minute, you know, they played an extra 30. Yeah. And so, man, and then you have a goal ruled off sides right at the death. I mean, that's heartbreaking. But also not for you. A little bit. A little bit. A little bit nice. I will say it's tough for me to root for them, to sit down and root for them, but it's also difficult because...
we also want to elevate League 2, right? You want a cup set. Yeah, exactly. You want a cup set. Yeah, yeah, exactly. So, yeah, sitting down and watching that match was a mix of emotions for me, but, you know, I'm not disappointed with the result. I was going to ask here, Roman Torres. Yeah. Do you want to take it, Ari? Well, we just saw that you had a, was this a guest coaching appearance for Roman or just tell us about the connection there.
How did that come about? Yeah, I mean, absolutely crazy for me. I looked up to him. Did you see the tattoo of himself on himself? I haven't seen that one yet. Yeah, he has a tattoo of himself lifting the cup on his butt. That's like the coolest thing ever. It has to be, right? Yeah. Self-portrait on your body is so sick. I love that. Yeah. So, you know, I don't even know how we initially started the conversations with Roman, but we really find value in...
and having him a part of the staff as a professional player mentor. He's a guy who has, you know, done it himself. And so speaking to our players about how do you find that level and how do you grind? in a lot of different ways, mentally, physically. And so we really appreciate him being on our staff. And he's just fun to be around. He has an aura around him. And man, I can remember watching him.
take that penalty you know i was in my basement uh you know and um and now i get texts from him so it's it's it's it's wild how how how things develop and um yeah i i find that we're extremely lucky to have him a part of the staff. He was always known as such like a big personality in the Sounders locker room. He was an aura guy. For sure. Like I remember I was covering the team in 2016 when they, when they won the cup and he was obvious.
such a huge part of why that happened but like even during the I think he came on maybe midway through that season and uh it was kind of an underrated uh change of the vibes, just having him in there. He would lead the dance parties in the locker room. Oh, the one where he makes Jordan Morris dance like this? That's one of my favorite videos of all time. He still hits that dance move. I can confirm he still hits that dance. That's a great get. We love Roman.
So he's still with the team? He is. He'll be on staff for year two. So come meet Roman. Yeah, come meet Roman. Come out to West Seattle and have a good time. It's always a party in West Seattle. Anyone else? like on the upcoming roster that you want to highlight or want people to know about that they can see at a game this year? Man, I mean, I could go down the list of a lot of our players.
I'd like to highlight our keeper. We had him last year, Lucas Martin. He's a guy at a D2 Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado. That sounds like a guy who could be like MLS talent. You know, like you'd grind it out in D2, play chant, you know. Continue, sorry. I'm getting dreamy about this man. Well, yeah, I was fortunate to be able to get to know him over last season, and he's a great guy, but he's also great between the sticks.
So his shot-stopping ability, incredible. He saved a PK against Olytown last season, which resulted in us getting the draw away. But his distribution is fantastic. Fantastic. And so he can kick the ball a mile long, but he can also play short, very comfortable. And so I look forward to seeing him this season and continue to grow on what he did last year. That rocks.
Oh, yeah. I was going to ask here. I want to come back into the mind of you and what your average day looks like. Is this full time for you? Is this like... I'm doing this and also grinding it out, doing other stuff. I love the, you know, the lower league stuff, you know, I feel like I've been football manager, like talking with you, you know, is that kind of the vibe? Yeah. So, um,
When I got brought on to the GM role, I'm lucky enough to, this is my full-time job now. That's awesome. Yeah, so it's a dream come true to be able to work for my hometown club in a full-time capacity. Average day, man, I could not even tell you how different my days look like. You know, I wake up, I definitely got to get my coffee. There we go. That's the first one. But usually it's... checking in on players a lot. So I lead our registration.
through the USL. So making sure that they're going to be eligible to play come May. And then dealing with some of the international stuff. So we have international guys who come in and they need to... to get their paperwork done through us soccer uh so that's a big big role and then i'm involved heavily with the day-to-day of just the the business of the club so uh trying to drive the community outreach uh part of things um podcasting
Podcasting, yeah, trying to spread the word out there. But my weeks look drastically different depending on when you catch me. Real life football manager. How would you describe just the state and the health, I guess, of League Two? What do you think is going well about where things stand? And what do you maybe think could you...
growth or improvement? That's a good question. I think that what we're doing really well is... connecting with youth clubs i think you'll see a lot of young people at these games and that's a big thing about just growing the game in the united states if the game continues to grow League two will always have a place here, right? And so that's going to be huge coming up, Club World Cup here, and then World Cup following that, and then even the Olympics further down the road.
But, you know, I think what we could do a bit better is is reaching the average soccer fan, you know, somebody who might follow like their local MLS team and showcasing like what. this is all about. that hyper-local soccer is really fun to go to, and that the quality is actually quite high. With guys coming in from college programs all around, I don't think people realize. really how good the soccer is.
Yeah, and do you guys play on Saturdays or Sundays? It jumps around. Yeah, it jumps around. So we'll have some midweek games. But I would say Friday, Saturday, Sunday is generally if you're working, you know, a nine to five. you know come catch us after heck yeah no that rocks um i was gonna ask because recently announced voted on by
This is like the big hot topic in U.S. soccer. Promotion and relegation coming in 2028. Is that correct? So I'm interested to hear. Maybe you don't want to reveal too much about everything, but how that.
looks for for the junction if you guys are excited or you know maybe maybe you guys are a little worried unsure i guess it's so far away too yeah i mean i think everybody should be excited at least for this experiment you know how is pro reg gonna gonna work in the united states are people gonna you know be really open to it and love it or or is it you know
is the American mind a little bit, you know, very playoff oriented and everything. So it's going to be interesting to see, but I think everybody should be excited about it. You know, I think it just. grows the possibilities of soccer in the United States. And it kind of challenges the way that we develop players a little bit in that mindset. And I think that's something that really... needs to improve for soccer in the United States to continue to grow. And so...
We're excited for it. You know, it is a little bit down the road, but, you know, we don't we don't get any advance notice of any of this stuff. So we were finding out right as you guys did as well. So, yeah. Speak a little bit more to that, you know, how you think that.
the player development will change with promotion and relegation because i i do hear you sharing with us the pay to play problem in American soccer that's something that a lot of people point to online and people have said you know promotion and relegation is something that could fix American soccer it's going to create this completely new thing I mean I'm interested to hear from your perspective at least
the changes in player development that this can bring? I think just the academy style where guys can be brought up in the same systems and obviously just eliminating the barriers. There's a lot of kids who want to play soccer that just don't have the money to or don't have the money to be on a team that supports their talent.
And so I think that's something that's huge. And the USL is really pushing it right now. They really want academies of League Two teams, of League One teams. And so I think that's... the next step is growing this hyper-local vision and so that kids have the opportunity to grow up in a system and that we also continue to develop our coaches. I think that's something that...
that is missed quite frequently is that we need to continue to educate coaches. And that's something that our head coach, Eric Oman. That's one of his big missions is being a coaching educator. And so his perspective there is very appreciated. I mean, I know Ari is a huge New Mexico United fan. I was just going to ask and I was going to say. It's kind of a selfish question that only...
I care about, but I'm from New Mexico, so I'm a diehard New Mexico United fan. Have you followed much what they've got going on down there? I've seen a little bit. It looks absolutely electric. And I was actually lucky enough that when we met to schedule this season, we got...
their general manager on the phone to speak to us a little bit about what they're doing. That's awesome. You know, how they're doing different stuff with their kits, with their kit sponsorship. A really cool perspective into the business side of it. things and how they're they're growing it was just crazy because like growing up there i never uh really even considered the notion that there would be a soccer team that had support
Like that, you know, we had a triple A baseball team that got, that was decently supported, but nothing crazy. Uh, but the community down there like really embraced it in a way that was surprising to me. And like, they just, the marketing and the, uh, the crowds. it really like you said it's electric and it was awesome to see that in my hometown but I think like what it showed to me is it's like
possible in places where you might not necessarily expect it. I guess I had lived there for a long time at that point. So maybe it was more expected, but like, uh, I guess that's, uh, something that I guess I hope like some USL.
league two clubs, uh, that are already in existence or ones that are maybe more perspective. Like you can kind of like, like I said earlier, not people might not have thought of West Seattle as the first place, but like you guys are really, you're really doing it. So it can be done.
Absolutely. And I'd like to highlight the new Portland team. They're connected to the Portland Pickles down there, which is obviously electric factory for baseball. So we're excited to see their atmosphere when we travel down there. But absolutely, I think that there's...
A market for soccer truly in many towns across the United States and just giving people access to that outside of, you know, the MLS is huge. Yeah, I mean, Ari literally talked about it on a stream a couple weeks ago about how... you know the sounders are like do we move stadiums what's going to bring fans back you know having a little attendance troubles here and there and we've both kind of been under the the assumption that
If you have a good team and you have affordable tickets, people will come and show up and support you. That seems like a pretty good model to me. I mean, I don't know. But why don't we wrap it up here with some agendas. Agenda check is our... Fan favorite segment here. So I wrote down some agendas of what I think are.
I'm setting now for this season for the junction. You can give us your reactions. Maybe you can come up with one. I don't want to put you on the spot here, but why don't we have him, uh, like rate the, uh, Oh yeah, there you go. You can rate them as like hot. Super fire, bad, you know what I mean? Alright, alright, I got it. Do you have any, Ari, or should I just rip them? Rip yours. Okay, okay. My first one is Junction will finish higher than Ballard FC Agenda. Ooh, that's a...
That's hot. Hot. That's hot. That's hot. That's hot. Hot good or hot bad? Hot good. All right. I like the confidence. That's the confidence that we're bringing into the season. And, you know, I think it would be a failure from the staff if we didn't strive for that. Yeah. There we go. I mean, you know, I like what I see. I like the, you know, you're saying scrappy underdogs, like coming back.
You know, not to put it out there, but haven't gotten a win against Ballard yet, so it's due. It is. It's due. I'm hyped for this Darby now. I know. I'm like, we're going to have to go out and do a whole video. out there for you guys. You should, you should. And their fans are incredible. They'll definitely bring the energy for that match. You know, they don't like us and we don't like them. So, you know, the feeling is mutual.
And I think if you watched last year, we had quite a few comeback victories. That was a little bit of our MO last year. And so I think that fits the bill, you know, the underdogs. All right, here's my second one. This is only because I knew this player coming in. Manny Diop, who had committed to Penn State and has played a lot of college soccer. Great player. Team of the season quality for regionally. That's my take.
Only because that's a player I knew and I watched him in college and I loved what I saw. That's going to be super hot. That's a super hot take. We love Monty. He's very... adaptable we even we played him at striker last year um you know he's he's mainly uh plays in the back but We had him at center back. We had him at right back. And then we stuck him at top a few games. And so I think that's a super, super hot agenda item right there. There we go.
Ari, do you have any to add? I think that sides it up. Those are my two agendas. We'll have to check in with you again at some point. Anything else that you want to share? Where can people find the junction online for one and two? our tickets on sale where can people get them all that kind of good stuff season start shill go for it absolutely absolutely so uh if you want to find us uh we're on instagram we're on facebook uh and you know all the social media
So look us up, West Seattle Junction FC. If you want to buy tickets, tickets are on sale. Like I just mentioned before, only $15. for single match tickets even less if you want to buy season tickets so so go to our website wsjunctionfc.club and you'll be able to find tickets there along with our schedule and
And merchandise as well. We got our jerseys dropping here very soon. And we're excited about that. So we're stoked about our hats, too. Yeah. But we'll have to talk about a short sponsor. Lobbing Scorchers short sponsor, maybe.
at some point here. Get it going. Strike while the iron's hot and maybe you'll push us through to a championship. There we go. Well, thank you so much, Corey, for giving us your time and we will... catch up soon yeah absolutely thank you guys so much for having me on i'd be thrilled to come on again heck yeah thank you man appreciate it
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