Beamer soccer lands three scholarships

By CASEY OLSON, The Mirror

The five-year-old Todd Beamer girls soccer team had a dream season in the fall. The Titans came just one goal short of winning the school’s first-ever Class 4A state championship after losing in the title game to unbeaten Eastlake in a penalty-kick shootout.

The season not only allowed the Titans to just miss a state championship, but helped three seniors earn scholarships to play college soccer.

Jordan Salisbury (Seattle University) and Nicole Peterson (Seton Hall University) signed national letters of intent Wednesday at a ceremony in Beamer’s Great Hall. Brittany Orr signed last month with Portland’s Concordia University.

“It was an awesome year,” said Salisbury, a first-team, All-Stater. “The get second place in our senior year was amazing. We started off our freshman year with like four wins and then we played in the championship final our senior year.”

Salisbury tallied 11 goals last year, but plenty of them came in huge situations. She scored game-winners during 1-0, loser-out victories over Jefferson in the West Central District Tournament and a 1-0 win over Woodinville in the Class 4A state semifinals. Salisbury also tallied the first goal in a 2-1 win over Heritage in the state quarterfinals.

“(Seattle U) is 25 minutes from home and I wanted to stay close to my family,” said Salisbury, who also visited Oregon State, Oregon, Portland and Portland State. “It’s a perfect fit.”

South Orange, New Jersey, was also a perfect fit for Peterson. Seton Hall plays in the prestigious Big East Conference against teams like Notre Dame and Syracuse.

“My club team went to a tournament in New Jersey and (Seton Hall) happened to be there,” Peterson said. “I stayed an extra week and really liked it. It’s a lot different than here, but I’m ready to kind of venture out.”

Peterson, also a first-team, all-stater, was the rock on the backline for Beamer during her four-year career. She tallied seven goals and five assists and was also one of the best defenders in the league.

Orr, a midfielder, finished with 15 goals and seven assists and had four games with multiple goals in the fall, including a hat trick during a 4-1 win over Puyallup on Oct. 2.

Sports editor Casey Olson: 925-5565, sports@fedwaymirror.com