Enumclaw’s Eldridge to play soccer at Western

Teagan Eldridge was named Enumclaw High’s Most Valuable Player for the 2017 season.

Enumclaw High’s Teagan Eldridge is one of 10 players who will join the Western Washington University men’s soccer program in the fall.

Signing day was in February for college-bound athletes, but Western waited until last week to announce its full 2018 recruiting class.

Ready to greet coach Greg Brisbon are eight freshmen and two transfers. The incoming class includes five midfielders, two defenders, two forwards and a goalkeeper.

Eldridge, a 5-fot-11 midfielder, heads to the Bellingham campus with a soccer resumé featuring success at both the high school and club level. He was named Enumclaw High’s Most Valuable Player following the 2017 season and was the squad’s Offensive MVP in both 2016 and 2017. He won four state titles with Washington Premier, competed in the 2017 U.S. Youth Soccer National Championships and represented Washington in winning the Olympic Development Program regional championships in 2016.

Brisbon, who has five seasons under his belt as the Viking coach, is happy to land Eldridge.

“Teagan comes from a club team that has had great success in the past two years. One of the main reasons for that is because of Teagan,” Brisbon said. “He has great attacking instincts, he is a team guy first and has a tremendous motor.”

Eldridge and the other new Vikings join a WWU program that tied for third place in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference standings during the 2017 campaign. A year before, the team had tied for second and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Division II Championships.

“I am very excited for this recruiting class,” Brisbon said. “They are each great student-athletes, they all have played on teams that have been in big games that matter and also all have won big tournaments and championships in their club careers.”

After a trio of exhibition games, Eldridge and his WWU teammates will begin the fall season with four non-conference games, all in California, between Aug. 30 and Sept. 8.

“It would not surprise me if all 10 made an impact with our program right away next fall,” Brisbon said. “Every one of these student-athletes makes our program stronger and that much closer with reaching our goals as a program next fall.”