Building a legacy

By Ben Olson
Reader Staff

Those who have been around Sandpoint for a while might remember the soccer dynasty that lasted from the mid-’90s to late-2000s. Year after year, excellent players kept putting Sandpoint on the map, winning state tournaments left and right. The first decade of the 21st century alone saw Sandpoint 4A boys win seven of 10 Idaho State Soccer tournaments, while 4A girls took home five of 10 state championships.

Evan McNeley, left; and Brian Farber, right, with the U.S. Men’s National Team in Boise after defeating Mexico 3-2. Courtesy photo.

Now, a group of former Sandpoint soccer stars are attempting to bring Sandpoint back to its glory days with a new program called Albion.

“It was everyone’s dream to figure out how to play in college after high school,” said Lawson Tate, who graduated from Sandpoint High School in 1999 and dedicated a large portion of his life to the sport. He now serves as director of Soccer North for Albion SC Idaho.

“It got so that all the upper echelon talent would have to leave and play for a rival team in Coeur d’Alene or Spokane just for the opportunity to continue in the sport,” he added.

Tate and other Albion organizers hope the program will provide a local avenue for those star players to a career either playing or coaching soccer at the highest levels.

Brian Farber knows how important that is from his own experience, graduating from SHS in 2000 and going on to become something of a legend in the Sandpoint soccer world. He may have started out as a scrawny kid learning the sport through recreational soccer, but he went on to play at the top of the field as a professional for teams including the Portland Timbers, and now runs several soccer skills lines and uniform brands. 

“Soccer was my only passion for a long time,” he told the Reader. “My goals were to get out of Sandpoint with a soccer scholarship.”

Like Farber, many kids start playing the game through community parks and recreation programs. There are hybrid models, also, like the Sandpoint Strikers, which most participate in as recreational players, while perhaps a third play in the competitive arm and travel to tournaments throughout the region.

Both Farber and Tate had the Strikers to thank for elevating them in the sport during their high-school years.

Next Level Camper of the Day Charlie Johnson with Farber, Coach McNeley, Alex Ponce, Derrick Ponce and Yan. Courtesy photo.

“There’s no coincidence Sandpoint was a powerhouse back then,” Tate said. “Tom Atencio, a very high-caliber professional player and coach, took over the Strikers and built the rec league up so that he had a network of upper echelon players. He could connect you to people that coached other colleges. Tom Atencio single-handedly gave the adrenaline shot to the mom-and-pop club.”

Farber agreed, adding, “We had a lot of good coaches.” 

“Randy Thoreson was a passionate coach. Ed Bock coached my uncle, and my uncle first got me into soccer,” he told the Reader.  

“What really ingrained me as a Sandpoint native soccer player is the hard-working, blue-collar whatever-coach-says-you-do mentality,” Farber said. “We got that from Randy. He was a hardass.”

The problem, according to Tate and Farber, is that programs like the Strikers — while they were formative in their upbringing — didn’t offer the best path for competitive players to move forward with soccer careers. Both said they support local soccer programs 100%, but as one of the top five soccer programs in the U.S., Farber acknowledged Albion is the best chance to see Sandpoint stop losing its best players to Coeur d’Alene or elsewhere.

It’s a move that Tate made, switching jerseys to play on Coeur d’Alene teams — which he fought brutally against for the previous eight years — just for the better opportunities that those teams could provide.

“There’s a consistency in Spokane and Coeur d’Alene coaching and clubs,” Tate said. “It happened to my son’s team in Sandpoint, too. All the best players left.”

Farber remembers taking a similar route to further pursuing his passion for the sport.

Director of Soccer North Albion SC Idaho Lawson Tate. Courtesy photo.

“I had to make the choice to join the rival teams, just like Lawson and many others. I drove to Coeur d’Alene for two years and played with our archenemies, infiltrated their teams and played with guys I hated for eight years.”

The move paid off. Farber said his team won state and went onto regionals, where Oregon State University saw him play. He was ultimately given a full-ride scholarship to OSU. 

Among Farber’s awards and distinctions is being named Idaho State Soccer Player of the Year in 2000, holding North Idaho College’s record for points scored, and selection to the All-Pac-10 second team and Pack-10 All-Academic team as a senior at OSU in 2004. 

After college, Farber played professional soccer for various teams, including the Timbers, the Minnesota Thunder and San Diego Sockers. Most recently, he was asked to advise a professional team in North Carolina, which is competing in a $1 million tournament.

Tate said Farber’s rise in the soccer world proves that star players do come from Sandpoint, but there needs to be a program to funnel upper-tier athletes to more successful positions beyond high school. That’s where the Albion program comes in — as well as other organizers such as Evan McNeley, who roomed and played soccer with Farber in college, then came to North Idaho in 2005 with the goal to provide soccer instruction at the highest level for local kids. McNeley turned pro after moving to North Idaho and is now a renowned coach and trainer who once coached the Tacoma Stars.

Brian Farber. Courtesy photo.

“Evan is amazing,” Tate said. “Just the other day I watched these four kids in awe. They’re standing there being coached by a professional coach. The respect he commands, the energy he brings, the way he delivers a message; he pulls so much physically out of the kids that otherwise they wouldn’t know they could accomplish.”

Also on the Albion team is Jennings Waterhouse, who said her two boys have played soccer since kindergarten and wants to give hers and other kids opportunities that didn’t exist while she played varsity soccer.

“I feel like we have so many talented athletes in our town, and sometimes they just get written off,” she said.

Tate said the Albion model is all about instruction, pathways and connections. 

“Albion is player-centric and they’re all about technical development,” Tate said.

“Albion is a big deal,” Farber said, who said he also knows the founder of the program from his time in San Diego. “I was in these players’ shoes long ago. If Tom and Randy weren’t here then, it may have never happened for me. We need to be that source for the future players. We need to build that legacy.”

Albion will hold tryouts Thursday, May 23 from 3:30-5 p.m. and Friday, May 24 from 9-10:30 a.m. at War Memorial Field in Sandpoint, open to all players born between 2006-2017. Albion will also host free soccer clinics open to all players born between 2006-2017 on Monday, May 20 and Wednesday, May 22, from 4-6 p.m. at Kootenai Elementary School both days. For more information, visit albionscidaho.org.