Strong on their own for the past few years as State Cup champions, the Coeur d'Alene Sting soccer club has molded two different age groups into an under-18 squad eager for some new challenges.

Those will come from the rest of the teams in the West, as well as the heat in Boise when the US Youth Soccer Association Far West Regional starts on Monday at the Simplot Soccer Complex.

This Sting regional-qualifying team is a combination of two Sting teams that played last year - one in the U17 division, one in the U16. This Sting team qualified for regionals by winning the state U18 title.

"This group is kind of special because they ended up combining a couple of teams that had each gone on to regionals a couple of times," Sting coach and North Idaho College women's soccer coach Dan Hogan said. "They're a pretty dedicated group of players with some good skills. As a coach, I was able to try a few more things with attacking, and they were also excited about learning new stuff."

Megan Lowery - a recent graduate of Coeur d'Alene High - has played in the Sting program for the last 13 years.

"I don't think I was ever against playing soccer," said Lowery, who will continue her playing career at NIC in the fall. "I loved it from the first day and have been playing ever since."

Lowery has been a part of three State Cup championship teams.

"I've really enjoyed being part of this team," Lowery said. "This team is awesome. We've had most of the same group for the last four years, and they're a great group of girls. Winning state three times was amazing, and to be with the same group has been really awesome."

Caitlin Barber is an incoming junior for the Lake City High varsity team, and has played eight seasons with the Sting.

"It's really helped me improve my skills," said Barber of playing up an age group. "Since I'm younger, I should be playing at a lower level, but playing with the older kids has really helped me get better."

When she was younger, Barber often times played with the boys.

"I've always liked soccer," Barber said. "When I was younger, I was a little upset that I wasn't playing against the boys anymore. But it really made me a stronger, tougher, more aggressive player. I liked playing against the boys. They really helped me a lot."

Sadie Schmeling, who will be a senior at Post Falls High this fall, joined the Sting program two years ago.

"I was a little nervous about joining the team," Schmeling said. "But I was super excited to get the chance to play with new girls and have a new soccer experience."

The program has changed Schmeling's view of the game.

"It's completely changed my outlook on what soccer is," Schmeling said. "How you work as a team is different. And it's not about individual work. Everyone is super positive. There's never a negative comment on the field or anything. Winning the state championship was huge."

Schmeling is unsure on her future plans, but wants to continue her playing career in college.

The Sting Premier opens the Far West Regional tournament on Monday at 7 a.m. PDT against the Southern California Blues of San Juan Capistrano. On Tuesday, they will face the Northwest Nationals '96 of Edmonds, Wash., at 12:15 p.m. and wrap up pool play against Santa Clara Sporting '96 on Wednesday at 10:30 a.m.

The top two teams in each four-team pool advance to the quarterfinals.

"It's a really tough draw," Hogan said. "We played the Northwest Nationals in January in a driving rainstorm with little outside work and lost 4-0. But we're playing well right now and it should be a good match."

Semifinals are scheduled for Saturday, with the championship match on Sunday.

Temperatures are expected to be in the mid-90s this week in Boise.

"We'll probably be a little not as with it as the California girls because they're used to this kind of weather," Barber said. "It will be really hot, but we'll come out and play strong."

"The big thing with these two age groups, from Day 1, they've been competitive and worked hard," Hogan said. "They've also been really talented. We've had numerous track athletes and basketball players and other sports involved. As those kids got into high school, they settled on soccer as their main sport and some of them still ran track. This group just shows that a smaller community like Coeur d'Alene, on certain years, we can be competitive with teams from the Boise and Seattle area, as well as other places where the population base is a lot bigger and stronger."

"I appreciate Howard Johnson's professionalism and work ethic, but we simply were not getting the results that we expect and require," Zduriencik added.

Martinez spent his entire 18-year major league career with the Mariners and is regarded as one of the best right-handed hitters of his generation. He has worked the past several seasons working as a guest hitting instructor during spring training.

"For the last three years I've been thinking that I want to get back into the game," Martinez said. "I think this is the right time. I haven't seen so much talent in the Mariners for a long time."

Popular with his teammates and fans, Martinez joins a team that has the worst batting average in the majors at .233 and ranks 28th in runs scored.

"The fact is we haven't performed up to our capabilities probably for a season and a half. I certainly believe this club is better than what it's shown from an offensive standpoint," manager Lloyd McClendon said. "I'm hoping he can jump start us and help us quite a bit."

The 52-year-old Martinez played 2,055 career games with Seattle and hit .312 with a .418 on-base percentage for his career, and won two AL batting titles. Major League Baseball renamed the designated hitter of the year award in Martinez's honor.

"Hopefully we can really get something going with Edgar and he can help us going," Mariners catcher Mike Zunino said. "To pick his brain and see what he did and his approach on hitting is going to be a lot of fun."

Martinez was already working with players in the cage and giving pointers during batting practice before Saturday's game, although he said he'd mostly be learning about individual needs for now.

"I have some ideas for some of the guys, but at the same time it's also a lot of listening and watching, for the next few days, especially," Martinez said.

Seattle is hoping Martinez can quickly find ways to improve an offense that has been shut out four of the last nine games.

"We were disappointed in how the offense was performing. We all clearly believe this is a better offensive club than what we were producing," Zduriencik said before Saturday's game.

"We're very confident that the things Edgar will speak to our players about and bring to the table will be a real positive impact on us. We're in a position right now where we think it was just time to make a move, and we did," he said.