Moses Lake youth soccer program sees success
CALEB PEREZ | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 1 year, 2 months AGO
MOSES LAKE – The Basin Sounders Girls 2011 team had a lot of success this season, bringing the team up to the National Premiere League. The girls finished the spring season in second place for the NPL.
“This team has been playing together for close to 5 years and little by little they have gone from Copa level to Classic level and finishing first in those,” said Basin Sounders Girls 2011 co-coach Rian Allred. “Then they qualified for the National Premiere League which is the top league in the Washington Premier League.”
Allred coaches the team alongside Rachel Mohs, and the two coaches are very impressed with the growth and development of these girls who were born in 2011 and 2012 and are now all currently in the seventh and eighth grade age range.
“They’re accomplishing something in soccer that has really never been done before in our area with a team made up mainly of girls from Moses Lake with a few girls from Ephrata, Othello, Quincy and Royal City,” said Allred. “From our small area, we’re competing against teams from Seattle, Tacoma and a lot of bigger clubs.”
Last year the team won in the state championship at the bronze level; during this past year, the girls have gone to seven different tournaments and skipped over the silver level straight into the gold level of state play. Allred said playing in bronze is the equivalent of playing in a 1A league with gold being closer to 4A.
“You’re just playing against much bigger clubs and so it’s a really high-level competition,” he said.
In February 2025 the Basin Sounders G2011 Mohs team played in the Gold Division of the Copa Surf Northwest in Tukwila, which is a qualifier for the Surf Cup in San Diego, California, one of the largest youth soccer tournaments in the country. The Sounders earned the Gold Division Championship title and qualified to play in San Diego.
“No other team has ever accomplished that in the Basin Sounders or in our area,” said Mohs.
The 2011 team also played in four gold level tournaments from January 2024 to February 2025, in Seattle, Puyallup and San Diego, where the girls finished second in each. The team narrowly missed out on going to Nationals in Colorado this year since only the number one team qualifies, but Mohs said this is what their goal will be when they go into the next season.
Allred said that their successes at these high-level tournaments over the past year highlight the hard work and the culmination of all the players' years of soccer experience.
“They’re really starting to compete at the highest levels and to win at the highest levels in addition to all the great memories, experiences and life lessons that they’ve learned,” he said.
The team is currently preparing to play in the Surf Cup in August and will have a college showcase tournament at Eastern Washington University next weekend. Allred said there will be around 25 college scouts at the EWU tournament, giving the girls the opportunity to show off their skills to potential colleges earlier in their soccer careers.
“These girls are young but a lot of them want to play at the next level,” said Allred. “They’re just starting that process where they can be recruited by college scouts.”
“Be on the lookout for these amazing girls throughout the summer while they take on the challenge of fundraising to make their goals and dreams become reality,” said the coaches.
The Basin Sounders 2011 Mohs team will play their first game in the college showcase at EWU June 7 at 10 a.m.
ARTICLES BY CALEB PEREZ
Sushik comes full circle ahead of first season at BBCC
MOSES LAKE — The next step in Liana Sushik’s athletic journey has led her to play for the Big Bend Community College Vikings volleyball team this fall after a successful career with the Soap Lake Eagles. Joining the Vikings is something she feels has deepened her love for the sport, she said. “I fell in love with the fact that there’s more than just high school volleyball; there’s another level,” said Sushik. “It’s like a whole new chapter and I’m so excited to see what I have next because there’s a lot that I’ve been through to get here.” Despite her success on the court, Sushik said she didn’t initially start out as an athlete.
Building a community at Desert City Fitness
EPHRATA — The city of Ephrata welcomed its newest athletic club earlier this summer with Desert City Fitness setting up along Basin Street. Since their grand opening June 6, the club has worked to become a strong contributor to the community in Ephrata. “We just opened our doors and whoever comes in, that’s how we do it,” said Bryan Boney, owner of Desert City Fitness. Boney, who owns the club alongside his wife Tracy Fillion, decided to open Desert City Fitness to keep himself active after retiring six years ago. Boney said he has invested all his money from retirement into purchasing the property, remodeling and getting the equipment necessary to open his fitness center.
Grid Kids expands opportunities this season
MOSES LAKE — The Moses Lake Grid Kids football program is gearing up for the start of its 26th football season this fall. This year, alongside their tackle football program, the Grid Kids have expanded their flag football options. “It’s one of those things that you just don’t really know how well it’s going to go, but right now we’re looking pretty strong,” said Brian Gwinn, the Gird Kids administrator and communications contact. The tackle opportunities remain the same for third through sixth grade with third and fourth graders playing together and fifth and sixth graders separately from the younger players. The format for third and fourth grade will remain at a regular 11-man game, but for fifth and sixth grade there is consideration for moving down to an eight-on-eight format.



