The game against Nathan Hale on April 3 was a monumental one for Chief Sealth boys varsity soccer coach Ronald Johnson and his team.

In the 15 years Johnson has been at the helm, they had never beaten Nathan Hale – the perennial powerhouse of the Metro League.

That all changed when the Seahawks traveled north and trounced Hale 4-0, yet another feather in an already-feather-laden cap.

The win puts Chief Sealth at 7-0 halfway through the season and makes them the clear leaders of Metro.

Coach Johnson talked with the Herald about the team this year and the components of their success.

“We have been able to turn it around in the last three years and it has just been remarkable,” Johnson said.

Seahawks soccer (both girls and boys) had made major strides in student popularity over the past three seasons, he said, illustrated by the fact that 70 kids tried out for the boys varsity team this year and 60 the year before that.

Those are the kind of numbers traditionally seen at American football tryouts.

Central midfielder Mori Tsuchiya (a junior) and forward Aden Fidow (a senior) have emerged as the team standouts this year.

“They are our superstars and they are our leading scorers in the division,” Johnson said. “Talent-wise, they have a lot of talent, but it is the team around them, too, that supports them so well.”

On the opposite end of the pitch, goalkeeper Kristian Nilssen (who transferred to Sealth from Vashon Island this year) has upped his game as well, logging five shutouts.

The win against Hale was also a personal achievement for Coach Johnson, who has looked up to their coach, Mike Ryan (an elder statesman of Seattle soccer) since his playing days as a West Seattle youth in the 60s and 70s.

“I’m coaching alongside him now and it is an honor to be in the same room with him,” he said. “If I could tie or beat him it would be an honor.” (We spoke before the game)

Well Coach Johnson, consider yourself well-deserving of that honor.

Pay-to-play: Not a deterrent on Johnson’s watch
The Seattle Times ran an article from Claudia Rowe earlier this year about the rising cost for students to take part in high school athletics. According to Rowe, “… as Washington has absorbed $1.9 billion in cuts to education since 2009, administrators have begun to lean increasingly on parents to cover the cost of school athletics. In Seattle, that has meant doubling the fee for this year, from $50 to $100, per sport, though low-income students pay $25.”

Johnson said, with the soccer program, they have not let those increases get in the way of kids who deserve to be on the team.

“If they can’t come out my assistant coaches and I will find the money for the kids,” he said. “We don’t want pay-to-play to be the reason kids can’t play.”

An international team from an international school, and a recipe for success
“We are very diverse,” Johnson said of the cultural diversity that makes up Sealth’s soccer ranks. “We have kids from everywhere and what is very remarkable is they all get along … we have become a soccer family."

With that diversity in cultural background, also comes variety in styles of play. That variation is both an advantage and a hindrance.

“It is very hard to get them all on one style,” Johnson said. “Some styles like to dribble more, some like to pass, so it is all about getting them on one playing surface.”

He said the team made a pact last year that they were going to win the Metro league this year (so far so good), and to that end the players self-initiated practices in the offseason and through the winter, up to three times a week, “so they could get to know each other and play with each other.

“The main thing I stress with these kids is they’ve got to know each other’s voices and each others style of play so they can find one style to play together,” he said, “and I think we are finally starting to find that path we have been looking for, and we are starting to click.”

Johnson has also brought in younger assistant coaches who either played or are currently playing college soccer. He believes bringing in coaches who are still young enough to play the game at pace helps instill the importance of tactics he has been teaching all these years.

Chief Sealth (7-0) takes on Rainier Beach (2-4-1) in a home game on Friday, April 6 at 4 p.m. at the Southwest Athletic Complex just south of the high school. The Seahawks beat Rainier Beach 4-2 on March 13.