Preston Soeum is The News Tribune’s 2024 All-Area soccer player of the year

The moment arrived precisely how Preston Soeum envisioned it, as if Franklin Pierce’s star defender could see the future.

In preparation for state championship weekend, Soeum sharpened his penalty kicks. The undefeated Cardinals (21-0-2) had avoided a shootout all season, but Soeum sensed what was ahead.

And so the all-league defender pondered and plotted the deke of his career. Should the Cardinals reach a much-dreaded shootout, he would try a panenka – a penalty shot aimed directly above the keeper with the assumption he will dive out of position. A bold move, in short.

Soeum approached his head coach, Sammy Tafolla, that day: “If I panenka, will you be mad at me, even if I miss?”

“You do whatever you’ve got to do,” Tafolla replied. “I trust you.”

That trust, bestowed upon Soeum for their historic weekend, paid handsome dividends when he found himself in the position once considered implausible.

No. 2 Franklin Pierce danced to the 2A state championship with No. 1 Sehome and used a 71st-minute goal from Malachi Chang to send a 1-1 title match into overtime and penalty shots.

Sehome missed its second of five penalty tries and Soeum, the final leg, stood underneath the lights at Renton Memorial Stadium with a chance to clinch the first title in Cardinals history.

“None of us thought he was going to miss,” Soeum’s twin brother, Marvin, said.

His panenka drilled the back of the net, sending Franklin Pierce into a frenzy. And the perennial 2A SPSL-champion Soeum twins, already with their first district title in tow, finally reached the state’s mountaintop.

“A lot of coaches told me – that takes a lot of guts in a state championship,” Tafolla told The News Tribune, referencing Soeum’s shot.

His response every time? “High-level players make high-level plays in big games.

“And that’s what (Preston) is.”

The twins hoisted their trophy and embraced on the field before a sudden announcement by Renton Memorial Stadium’s public address announcer that Preston will never forget: “How fitting for the Soeum brothers to get it all.”

“That day was the greatest day of my life, for soccer,” Marvin said. “But I feel like I connected more with my brother.

“That ring, getting it with my brother… it was brotherhood right there.”

Preston sought a legacy at Franklin Pierce. Consider the boxes checked. The commanding and communicative defender won the 2A SPSL’s co-MVP award alongside teammate Logan Sams, guided the Cardinals to the first state soccer championship in program history, and his fifth and final penalty kick brought the first-place trophy home to Tacoma.

He is The News Tribune’s All-Area boys soccer Player of the Year.

“It’s definitely something he’s deserved from everything he’s done throughout his four years here,” said Tafolla, also The News Tribune’s All-Area Coach of the Year. “His leadership, his abilities obviously soccer-wise, but also to lead the team and get them going when things seem like they’re not going in our favor. And it happened all throughout state. He was our engine.”

Soeum’s illustrious Franklin Pierce career included 15 goals and 10 assists as a senior, a consistent and dominant force throughout the title run. The versatile, plug-and-enjoy playmaker assumed control of the offense when brother and striker Marvin missed early state-tournament action with a foot injury, headlined by Preston’s impromptu hat trick in the 2A quarterfinals over No. 7 Squalicum, 4-3.

Though both leave lasting Franklin Pierce legacies. Marvin, one of the area’s premier strikers, when healthy, returned in time to hoist the state championship trophy and was a TNT All-Area second-team pick.

The Soeum name will be talked about in Parkland “forever,” Tafolla said.

What made the twin duo so dangerous, so tough to scheme against?

“Other (than) they can’t tell us apart on the field?” Preston joked, earning a laugh from his brother.

“We know each other the most on the field,” Soeum continued. “I know when (Marvin) wants the ball to his feet, or if he wants to (run) onto it. It’s not just trusting each other, but knowing the other (part of the) duo’s going to do their job.

“I’m going to secure it in the back and get the ball to him, and I know my brother’s going to score.”

And while their high school playing careers conclude, their college careers begin – together. They aren’t moving far: both Preston and Marvin committed to Pacific Lutheran University’s soccer program, just two miles down the road.

Tafolla appeared in 76 career games for the Lutes, a midfielder from 2021-23, under PLU head coach John Yorke.

It makes Preston and Marvin’s transition even smoother.

“A lot of the things we did (at Franklin Pierce), a lot of the things we focused on, were things that I learned from (Yorke),” Tafolla said. “A lot of the set pieces. … And I know they’ll go (to PLU) and play for an even better coach. I’m excited to go watch (them) go ball out at PLU.

“I know they talk about it, but I don’t think they realize it yet, how cool it is that they were able to play high school soccer together, and how cool it will be to play college soccer together. And I know they’ll both have a lot of success there. They’ll fit the program perfectly.”

“Black and gold is a very good fit for me,” Soeum smiled.