Isaac Strever at Mountain View and Matt Palodichuk at Camas are high school seniors who this spring returned to their school soccer teams after time with the Portland Timbers youth academy.
But Clark County continues to have a strong presence in the Timbers youth development program, which for the 2013-14 season initially selected 27 players for its under-16 team and 23 for its under-18 team. Each team plays a 28-game U.S. Development Academy schedule between September and May.
Camas and Mountain View each have three players in the Timbers Academy. Two goalkeepers in the academy attend Union High School.
Seniors Niko De Vera, Anthony Macchione and junior Jacob Kempf are Camas students who have been regular players for the Timbers under-18 team. The three also saw action with the Timbers MLS reserve team last summer.
De Vera and Macchione both signed letters of intent to play college soccer at Akron University, the program that Timbers head coach Caleb Porter led before coming to Portland.
Union senior Collin Partee has signed with Utah Valley University. Union junior Grant Alcorn is training with the Timbers under-16 squad.
Mountain View students still with the Timbers Academy are senior midfielder Foster Langsdorf and juniors Peter Prescott and Ahmon Afenegus. Langsdorf will play college soccer at Stanford.
Strever said he jokes almost every day with Langsdorf about returning to the Mountain View team.
Langsdorf “is better off with his opportunities he’s been blessed with. I fully support him in where he’s going,” Strever said. “We’re going to be friends for life.”
La Center junior Alex Firl has spent time with the Timbers Academy as a development player, meaning he trained with the Academy but was not likely to play in games.
Carlos Cabrera and Carlos Rodriguez-Diaz are other players from Vancouver who play for the Timbers under-16 team.
