Sounders trialist Tye Perdido latest in Gonzaga's Hawaiian pipeline

Einar Thorarinsson has coached the Gonzaga men's soccer team for fifteen years. I caught up with the well-repsected head coach to talk about his graduate Tye Perdido, who is currently on trial with Sounders FC. We ended up talking about several other Hawaiians that have grown up as men and as soccer players through the Zags system, too. Gonzaga has been willing to mine Hawaii for undiscovered talent. Over the years the Zags have provided a bunch of Islanders with a mainland stepping stone to American professional soccer.

Tye Perdido is the latest Hawaiian to graduate from Gonzaga with pro aspirations. The 6-1 forward for Kula, HI (east Maui) was invited to the Sounders' Las Vegas combine in December. His performance in Vegas lead to an invite to the 2010 Sounders FC training camp. Coach Thorarinsson talked about the raw talent of Tye's early days. "He came over like a lot of Hawaiians, with not a lot of game experience. They just don't get many quality games over there on the Islands. He's grown mostly in his maturity as a player. He did show as a freshmen right away that he could play, that he had a lot of potential."

Perdido likes to power his way down the pitch. "He has better than average speed," says Thorarinsson. "He has a very, very good left foot. Powerful and accurate. He likes to run onto balls, although we worked with him on playing with his back to goal like a target forward as well, so he could be a threat more or less either way. His strength is probably running off of passes into the attack on goal. He's really good in the air."

Tye Perdido at Sounders camp: from Hawaii, via Spokane. (Rick Morrison)

I suggested to Thorarinsson that comparisons between Perdido and the Zags' most famouse Hawaiian forward, Brian Ching, would be helpful as reference points. National team star Ching was drafted out of Gonzaga in 2001 by then LA Galaxy coach Sigi Schmid. Schmid released Ching the following year, and Brian went on to have a breakthrough year in 2002 for the USL Seattle Sounders. He was signed by San Jose Earthquakes of MLS the next season, and the rest is history.

"Brian Ching is a surfer, Perdido is not," the coach says with a laugh. "That says it all right there. In terms of soccer though, Ching has the ability to get into midfield, to play at times even as a midfielder. Brian is also very strong with his back to the goal. Tye relies on his power and speed to bascially brush players off the ball. Tye has always been a strong physical player who uses his body well. Can he do that at the MLS level? I don't know, but he will try his best."

Perdido's task is similar to that of other Zags that have graduated before him. "Most of the Hawaiians are late bloomers," reflects Thorarinsson. "They all come in fairly raw but very dedicated and strong. The path Brian Ching took is a path a lot of soccer players have to take. Very few young kids make it right out of the draft." About Perdido's first steps towards being a professional, the coach said "I gave Tye the same advice I would give any young player. Do your best and try to be yourself. Be open to anything that comes to you and try to take whatever is given. Tye is very coachable just like Brian was too."

I mentioned to Thorarinsson that I had recently interviewed Zag soccer graduates and Hawaiians Vito Higgins and Dan Scott. "Vito Higgins is here (in Spokane), and he's waiting for a chance," said the coach the goalkeeper who broke his foot when he made LA Galaxy as a walk-on. "I've never seen him this ready to go. Where ever an opportunity comes from he will go and take it. He still has great goalkeeping ability. He can break right back in, from what I've seen."

"Dan Scott is another one in the same shoes as Brian, Zach (Scott, Sounders FC defender) and Tye. They are ready to play. They just dont have the experience (when they come over from Hawaii) so they are always trying to catch up. Dan is maturing now into a real nice player. I hated to see him go after his senior year."

Thorarinsson talked about his success with Hawaiian players. "I've been recruiting Hawaiian players since I started coaching in the college game. I've always had two or three, sometimes four or five on the team. There are players over there and no one seems to be looking...well teams are starting to look now more and more. They are just very, very hardworking kids and very coachable. They love to play and are a joy to have on the team. We've got another Hawaiian forward who will be a senior this fall, Nick Love."

Einar Thorarinsson (GoZags.com)

Gonzaga played on a new grass pitch in 2009. Thorarinsson calls it "One of the better fields on the west coast as far as colleges go. We still need to add bleachers and a clubhouse. The break-out success of our basketball program has helped name recognition, recruiting and upgrading of facilities."

Thorarinsson has observed that the Sounders are a hit in Spokane. "You notice there are people actually closely following them. The jackets, the sweaters, the t-shirts they wear. You can tell it is from people going over to the games. Within the soccer community here there is always talk about how they are doing, who is playing for them. So there is no question it is a huge thing over here and people in our area take great pride that there is an MLS team in our state."

While Spokane gets ready to follow the 2010 Sounders beginning in March, Thorarinsson and the Gonzaga soccer family will start that task early, as in right now. They've got a rooting interest in another Hawaiian trying to catch on with the Rave Green.