Pumas Insider

The Kitsap Pumas can clinch the Premier Development League’s Northwest Division title on Friday with a win over Washington Crossfire.
The Pumas have already clinched one of the division’s three playoffs berths.
Kitsap (7-1-4, 25 points) trails Vancouver (8-3-3, 27 points) for first place, but has two games in hand.
Victoria (6-3-3, 21 points), Sounders FC U23 (5-5-2, 17 points) and Portland (4-4-4, 16 points) are still alive. Victoria is the team which could pass Kitsap for second place, but the Highlanders would need to win out and have the Pumas lose out.

The Kitsap Pumas have spent most of the season in first place in the Premier Development League’s Northwest Division.
That was until Vancouver (7-3-3, 24 points) won seven straight games to go in front of Kitsap (6-1-4, 22 points) earlier this week.
The Pumas can get back into first on Sunday when they host Puget Sound at 2 p.m. at Gordon Field.
Kitsap has two games in hand against Vancouver, so the Pumas aren’t panicking. But three points against Puget Sound would be welcome after Kitsap lost its first game of the season last weekend against Portland.
The top-three teams in the division make the playoffs.
Kitsap finishes the regular season with road games against Washington Crossfire (July 11) and Sounders FC U-23s (July 16).

The Kitsap Pumas (6-0-4) extended their first-place lead in the Premier Development League’s Northwest Division to seven points with a 3-1 victory over Washington Crossfire on Saturday.

Chuy Sanchez, Miguel Gonzalez and Patrick Kelly each scored for Kitsap. Gonzalez added an assist.

After the game, Gonzalez said the Pumas aren’t celebrating anything yet despite the team getting close to clinching Open Cup and playoff berths.

“We are not champions yet,” Gonzalez said. “We still want it. You never know what other teams are going to do.”

Notes: Defender Rene DeZorzi, who has started every minute of every game at center back, will miss the rest of the regular season. He is going to Brazil for the World Cup. While not ideal, Kitsap coach Andrew Chapman said the team knew about DeZorzi’s trip before he signed with the club. Chapman also says because the team is relatively healthy, replacing DeZorzi should pose too much of a problem.

Kitsap Pumas midfielder Jesus Sanchez earned Premier Development League Player of the Week honors Thursday after his two-goal performance in Kitsap’s 2-1 victory over Lane United FC on Sunday.
Sanchez tied the game in the 66th minute on a volley just inside the goal box. Then in stoppage time with the Pumas playing a man down, Sanchez converted the game-winner on a free kick to help Kitsap extend its lead to five points in the Northwest Division.
The Pumas (5-0-4) face Washington Crossfire at 7 p.m. on Saturday at Gordon Field.

The Kitsap Pumas will play seven preseason game this spring, beginning with a matchup with Seattle University and former Pumas coach Peter Fewing.
The Pumas, who open the Premier Development League season May 11 at home against Vancouver, finalized their preseason schedule on Wednesday.
They’ll be on the road at Seattle University on April 6 at 2 p.m. The remaining schedule includes three home games at Gordon Field (April 12 vs. Bellingham United, 5:30 p.m.; May 3 vs. Peninsula College, 6 p.m.; May 6 vs. South Sound FC, 7 p.m.) and three road games (April 19 vs. University of Washington, 7 p.m., at Husky Soccer Stadium; April 26 vs. International Portland Select, 1:20 p.m., at Peninsula College; April 26 vs. Peninsula College, 4:30 p.m.; at Peninsula College).

After news broke Wednesday about head coach James Ritchie leaving the Pumas to serve as an assistant coach for new USL-PRO club Oklahoma City Energy FC, two names emerged as Ritchie’s possible successor: Andrew Chapman and Cameron MacDonald.

The club announced today Chapman, a former assistant coach who was serving as the club’s general manager, will take over as head coach. Chapman, a member of the club’s original coaching staff in 2009, is also the men’s coach at Peninsula College.

MacDonald, who played his first season with the Pumas in 2003, will serve as Chapman’s top assistant. P.J. Stickney will also serve as an assistant coach.

The Kitsap Pumas roll into the weekend looking to add some hardware.
The Pumas can clinch the Premier Arena Soccer League’s Northwest Division-North title with a win Saturday on the road against the Arlington Aviators.
Kitsap is in first place with a record of 7-1. Arlington is 6-1-2.
On Sunday, Kitsap finishes out the regular season against Snohomish on the road.
Both weekend games are 7 p.m.
The PASL’s playoff format has yet to be decided.

The 2013 season was the first time the Kitsap Pumas failed to make the postseason in the Premier Development League. I guess it shouldn’t be a surprise then that no Pumas made it on the PDL’s All-Western Conference team (another first). Here are the all-conference teams.

Here is a story about a new team — Lane United FC — joining the Premier Development League’s Northwest Division next season. Lane United FC is based in Eugene, Ore. With eight teams in the division, that should mean each teams plays every opponent twice. This season, the Pumas played four teams twice and two teams (Portland and Washington) three times.

Usually that’s a question left for later in the summer, but with the Pumas missing the playoffs for the first time after a fifth-place finish in the PDL’s Northwest Division, it’s a topic worth discussing now.

So who gets the nod? Is it Neil Shaffer, who led the team with five goals and — somewhat out of need due to injuries — became a dependable performer at right back? What about defender Brandon Scott, who started every minute of every game? Or Kasy Kiarash, who scored four goals in eight games after missing the early part of the season with an ankle injury?