Spokane Shine's Quintero glad to see growth in WPSL Northwest

SPOKANE, Wash.—Jason Quintero likes much of what he’s heard recently from the Women’s Premier Soccer League Northwest. Qunitero’s Spokane Shine, defending division title holders, will stay in-state for more matches in 2013 due to expansion of the division in both Washington and Oregon.

“I’m glad to see that the division is growing,” Jason tells goalWA.net.  ”It’s come a long ways since my first year coaching in the league (when we were known as Spokane Black Widows) and our away games were in San Francisco and Sacramento.  I think we are at the point where we can’t sustain any more growth in our area past our 8 teams due to the condensed nature of the season, however.  The reason for the Oregon/Washington divisions is to save travel cost and also because we simply can’t fit 14 games (playing the 7 other teams home and away) into our short summer window of opportunity to play.”

The WPSL appears ready to repeat its schedule of 10 matches again in 2013. Meanwhile the WPSL NW will feature four Washington and four Oregon clubs in two divisions. Teams will be in-state for home and away against those clubs and then venture out at least once to fill in the remaining schedules.

Shine mascot. (Brian Dalrymple photo)

The new Washington side, joining the Shine, Emerald City FC and Issaquah SC are the Italians of AC Seattle. That new club is hitting the ground running with multiple press releases in recent days. Quintero and the rest of the WPSL NW are very interested in how the new club will do.

“The concept of AC Seattle will be interesting to see how it will play out,” Qunitero says.  ”I think it’s a really neat idea to import players to form a team.”

WPSL clubs have been featuring imports on a smaller scale for years.

Qunitero knows the value in bringing over some foreign flair. “We started last year importing players, having players from the Scotland and Taiwan national teams play for us, and are talking with a Brazilian player who is interested in coming for the 2013, and its a great experience not just for the player traveling and having a new American soccer experience, but it’s also great for your domestic players to see those players come in, and how serious and professional their preparation is.  If American players, with our athleticism, had the internationals’ understanding of professionalism and preparation, we would have a whole different level of player in America.”

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