Top Guns of Washington

In the past few years an often overlooked fact about Washington State Youth Soccer is just how big of an impact we've had on the Youth Soccer World. Nothing shows this more than the fact we have placed numorous players on Youth National Teams.

Two particular players both on the U-17 Men's National Team, have had some of the best success. Nicholas Besagno and Preston Zimmerman, both have not only had a huge impact on the U-17 team, but also both played with the U-20 national team in games.

Zimmerman has been the U-17's best forward since joining the team last March. Zimmerman was named MVP of the Ballymena Tournament, his 2nd International Tournament with the 17's. Since then he has had an impressive scoring rate and has become the 17's main scorer going into the World Championship qualifying tournament.

Besagno as many of us already know has been the main cog in the central midfield for the U-17's. His tackling and work rate have been a huge part of the U-17's success. Recently all of his hard work and great play with the U-17's was rewarded. Besagno became the 1st pick in the MLS draft, and rejoins his former U-17 coach (John Ellinger) in Salt Lake.

These are just 2 very fine examples of what kind of player our state has produced recently. They however are not the only ones that have had such success in the past year. In this past year our state has had at least 8 players make Youth National Teams. There may be more and if so, please let us at WPS know. We'd like them to get credit for their achievements.

These are the players that have made or been brought into camps for the Youth National Teams for their age. Please let us know if we've forgotten any player on the list. We'd like to just take the time to say to all of them. "Great Job"

 

Ely Allen

Nicholas Besagno

Kate Dienes

Alexander Ferguson

Jordan Kussman

Ciaran O'Brien

Danny Wenzel

Preston Zimmerman

Ellis McLoughlin

Elizabeth Wright

Lucretia Lee

Brandon Zimmerman

Marissa Mykines

Kate Bennet

 

We at WPS would like to know more about all of these players. We would truly enjoy hearing their stories and adding it to our site. Please feel free to contact us or submit your story for all of the players to read. I think there are plenty of interested people, that often wonder what these players have done that has set them apart from the rest. WPS would also like to thank one of them, Preston Zimmerman for agreeing to be the 1st of many players we highlight on this site. We also want people to understand that this isn't about the clubs, this is about the players.