Following a busy weekend of S2 Open Tryouts, the team has started its first-ever preseason camp.
Monday afternoon, players the S2 coaching staff has seen from all over the world came to Starfire Sports to begin a week of training. The club has scouted potential players from multiple combines and invitational camps, as well as open tryouts in Las Vegas and at Starfire.
“We have done the best we can as far as identifying talent and players that fit the mold of S2 and what we are looking for,” said S2 Head Coach Ezra Hendrickson. “We want young players with high ceilings which means lots of potential.”
The team will train Monday through Saturday at Starfire, and will play a variety of scrimmages in games during the week to show the coaching staff not just what they can do in practice, but how they perform as a team.
The group will play an intrasquad scrimmage on Tuesday, then scrimmage again against the Sounders FC Academy U-18s on Wednesday before the week culminates with a full-sided game against University of Portland on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. PST. Each scrimmage and training session is open to the public.
“That first week guys will just be competing in those games trying to earn a spot on S2,” said Hendrickson. “From there we bring in a number of players to start training and we’ll start cutting down the roster to have a team for when we get started in March.”
The competition level is sure to be high as players fight tooth-and-nail to catch the coach’s eye and make the final squad. Players will start to be named to the roster slowly over the coming weeks, and soon S2 will have a team to take into their inaugural match at Starfire Stadium against defending USL Champion Sacramento Republic FC.
The full training schedule for the upcoming week can be found below:
Tuesday, February 17: S2 training - Starfire Sports field three - 10:00 a.m. PST - entire session open to media and public, with coach availability beginning at approximately 11:30 a.m. PST
Wednesday, February 18: S2 training - Starfire Sports field three - 10:00 a.m. PST - entire session open to media and public, with coach availability beginning at approximately 11:30 a.m. PST
Thursday, February 19: S2 scrimmage vs. Sounders FC Academy U-18s - Starfire Sports field 11 - 4:30 p.m. PST - entire session open to media and public, with coach availability following the game
Friday, February 20: S2 training - Starfire Sports field three - 10:00 a.m. PST - entire session open to media and public, with coach availability beginning at approximately 11:30 a.m. PST
Saturday, February 21: Preseason Friendly - S2 vs. University of Portland - Starfire Sports field three - 1:00 p.m. kickoff - open to media and public, with coach availability following the game.
For more information about the team, and to stay up-to-date on player signings and announcements, follow @SoundersFC2 on Twitter and stay tuned in at SoundersFC.com.
