Brian Ching eligible for National Soccer Hall of Fame

The National Soccer Hall of Fame announced Wednesday the official voting ballot for the 2017 induction class. Among the players added to the list for their first year of eligibility is Spokane legend Brian Ching, who was a standout player for Gonzaga University and the Spokane Shadow.

While playing for the Shadow in the Premier Development League, The Hawaiian was among the league's leading goal scorers and was named the PDL Rookie of the Year in 1998. The following season he suffered a terrible facial fracture in an early-season friendly and was sidelined for the rest of the season, missing the team's PDL championship game appearance.

During his college career at GU, he was named All-WCC First Team on two occasions and Second Team once. Ching finished his Gonzaga career with 34 goals, which still ties him third on the all-time GU list. His 23 assists are a Gonzaga career record.

In order to be eligible for election as a Player, an individual must be retired for at least three full calendar years, but for no more than 10 full calendar years, and have either: 1) Played in at least 20 full international games for the U.S.; if played prior to 1990, the game requirement is reduced to 10 games, or 2) Played at least five seasons in an American first-division professional league and named to a postseason league All-Star team at least once.

The voting pool includes all past and present full Men's and Women's National Team coaches, all active MLS and NWSL head coaches with a minimum of four years of experience as a head coach at the highest level in the United States, MLS and NWSL management representatives, the MLS and NWSL Commissioners/Executive Director, U.S. Soccer CEO/Secretary General, U.S. Soccer President, designated media members and all Hall of Famers.

Each voter can select up to 10 candidates per ballot. Any player appearing on at least 66.7 percent of ballots will earn election, while any player who does not appear on at least five percent of ballots will be removed from voting contention until they qualify for the Veteran ballot.

View the Full List [+]  

Here is the NSHOF bio for the ballot: 

A forward who scored 90 goals in MLS and 11 for the U.S. national team. Ching played 12 MLS seasons between 2001 and 2013 for Los Angeles, San Jose and Houston, winning an MLS title in 2006 with

Houston and being chosen to the MLS postseason Best XI in 2004. His MLS goals included 82 in regular-season play and eight in the playoffs. He played 45 full internationals for the United States between 2003 and 2010, including 17 World Cup qualifiers in 2004, 2005, 2008 and 2009, and was a member of the United States team at the 2006 World Cup. His achievements for the United States also included winning a CONCACAF Gold Cup championship in 2007. Ching also played one season in the A-League and was a runner-up for the MLS title in 2011 and 2012 with Houston. He played 229 MLS regular-season games and 26 MLS playoff games.

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HS Update - 5.03.17: Playoffs, Playoffs, Playoffs

The postseason kicked off Monday around eastern Washington with a few opening round games for the Greater Spokane League and Mid-Columbia Conference with the first round of the 1A district tournament for the Northeast A League following on Tuesday. Wednesday evening is a big night as everyone else in the GSL and MCC get into the mix.

On Monday, the two leagues kicked things off with individual 4A play-in games between their four and five seeds while on the 3A side the bottom seeds from each league squared off against one another.

The 4A meetings were both tight contests. For the second time in a week, the Gonzaga Prep Bullpups were unable to find the back of the net against University, falling 1-0 on a second half tally by Adam Drassen. It was Hunter Atwood's fourth shutout in official play this season for the Titans, who will visit Pasco. Details from Tri-Cities are largely unavailable, but according to a Richland Twitter post, a rebound of a penalty kick late in the match was the deciding moment in a 1-0 victory at Chiawana, which had won four of its last five, to put the Bombers through to a match-up with Central Valley.

It was a one-sided affair, though, down in Tri-Cities as Southridge dominated Shadle Park for a 5-0 win. Azuka Osokogu opened the scoring five minutes in and the Suns took control by the 21st with goals from Jorge Mendez and Emilio Sanchez to make it three. In the second half Mendez added two more back-to-back in the 66th and 70th minutes to complete a hat-trick on the night. Cole Varker registered the shutout as Southridge cruised to a second round match in Spokane against Rogers, which finished second among the 3A GSL schools thanks to a shootout win over Mt Spokane in the final week of the season.

The NEA contests Tuesday were both thrillers.

After a scoreless first half, top seed Colville looked to be in control of things early after the intermission with a pair of goals from Alberto Cisneros in the 45th and 51st, but the second half proved to be a doozy. Nicholas Rosenbeck answered with a goal in the 59th to quickly cut into the deficit and then tied it up in the 67th. Just three minutes later, though, Chase Kanamu put Colville back in front with what held as the winner.

In Newport, the Grizzlies were able to come out on top in a back-and-forth affair with Lakeside. Kai Thomas scored the opener in the 14th, but things were leveled four minutes before the break by Lucas Ousley. Martin Roca put Newport back in front in the 53rd, but Jeffrey Friedman fired back three minutes later to even it up for the Eagles and ultimately send the match to overtime. Johnny Quandt delivered the golden goal five minutes into extra session to give Newport the win.

On Thursday, Colville will host Newport at Spokane Falls CC for the NEA District title and the Great Northern League will open its district tournament with Cheney hosting Clarkston and Pullman playing West Valley. As the GNL regular season champion, East Valley has a bye.

Wednesday Playoff Games

4A :: Lewis & Clark @ Walla Walla 4:00
4A :: Hanford @ Ferris 5:00
3A :: Mt Spokane @ Kamiakin 5:00
4A :: University @ Pasco 5:30
4A :: Richland @ Central Valley 5:30, SFCC
3A :: Southridge @ Rogers 7:30, SFCC

Thursday Playoff Games

2A :: Clarkston @ Cheney 4:00
2A :: West Valley @ Pullman 4:00
1A :: Newport @ Colville 7:00

BTW: Unfortunately, INWsn fell behind on stats and it has been a chore trying to get caught up. Nearly there though and should have an update later this week... for most leagues (more about that later).

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