Former Maui High soccer star signs pro contract

By Dennis Anderson
Advertiser Staff Writer

Zach Scott's killer commute is over.

Scott, of Ha'iku, Maui, signed a professional soccer contract on Wednesday with the Seattle Sounders of the United Soccer Leagues A Division.

Scott will join the Sounders full time after he receives his mathematics degree from Gonzaga University on May 12.

He has spent the last month driving from Gonzaga in Spokane to exhibition games around Seattle, four-to-six hours each way, while finishing up his degree.

"That was really hard," Scott said. "I really wanted to know by this weekend if I was going to make it."

At Seattle, he will join another former Gonzaga all-star, Brian Ching of Hale'iwa (Kamehameha '96), who was picked up by the Sounders after being waived by the Los Angeles Galaxy in February because they were over their roster limit.

The league season opens Saturday. Scott has finals next week and won't practice with the Sounders until he graduates and relocates to the Seattle area. "They've been understanding about that," he said.

"They have been using me at defensive center midfielder, and some at marking back," in five pre-season games, Scott said.

Scott said he is not permitted to disclose any financial details of his contract, or whether he received a signing bonus.

Scott was a first-team all-state defender at Maui High in 1998 and an All-West Coast Conference defender for Gonzaga last fall. He was also on the All-WCC academic team with a 3.3 grade-point average. He eventually wants to teach math, and coach soccer "definitely on Maui," he said.

Scott also tried out with the Galaxy and the Portland Timbers before he caught on with Seattle.

The USL A Division is the highest men's professional league in the United States below Major League Soccer. When Ching was the 16th draft choice last year, he was the first Hawai'i player drafted in more than 20 years.

Ching was the third-highest goal scorer in Gonzaga history with 34 goals.