Photo by Anna Erickson
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The string of upsets that ended what had been a pretty good 2013 for the Seattle Sounders resulted in an unprecedented house-cleaning; in the off-season, December to February, I hesitated even to visit the team website, dreading yet another headline about the departure of some favorite player or other. (The tactic paid off, since the Sounders have topped the standings with room to spare for most of this season, now halfway over. Still, every farewell stung.) Which makes the longevity of defender Zach Scott an even more remarkable achievement: Joining the team in 2002, this is his 13th season with the organization.
Sounders fans know this, and revere him for it; more casual followers may not realize that such a long association with one team—especially one that bridges the Sounders’ jump from the USL First Division to Major League Soccer—is “definitely unheard of, ” as Scott, 34, readily admits. It’s particularly impressive considering the steady rise in quality in both the squad and the league as a whole. “If you’re not improving, you’re gonna get left behind,” he says, just as true for teams as for individual players.
Growing up on Maui, for Scott soccer was just one athletic interest among several (he’s also an avid surfer), and youth soccer wasn’t yet the large-scale enterprise it’s become: “Your team was basically the 15 kids you grew up with,” he says. Though he says he never aspired to a pro career, he determined that “when the opportunity came, I was gonna make the most of it”—which he’s done again and again, starting with attending Gonzaga University after an assistant coach, also from Hawaii, recruited Scott to come to Spokane.
From there, the Sounders picked him up after a general tryout—”about a hundred college guys, mostly from UW,” he says. Another challenge he rose to was the team’s 2009 move to MLS, which necessitated another trial period under the eye of newly hired coach, and American soccer legend, Sigi Schmid: “Everyone in that lower division was given a tryout to prove themselves,” but just a handful were chosen. Since then he’s been a frequent starter, developing a reputation for up-close bedeviling of opposing teams’ forwards with a tenacity that’s earned him the nickname Man-Marker (ZS:MM for short).
Sports writer Jeremiah Oshan, a curator of popular fan blog Sounder at Heart, remarks of Scott’s upward trajectory: “When Zach was one of six players to make the move from the USL team to the MLS team, he was possibly the one with the lowest expectations. And yet, he’s now the last one here, and, aside from Sebastien Le Toux [a former Sounder now with the Philadelphia Union], has probably had the best MLS career. He’s also managed to reinvent himself every year despite coming into the league as a 28-year-old.
“Now Zach is somehow enjoying his most effective season. The key seems to be realizing his own limitations. Once the first player out and the last player in from training sessions, Zach is doing a better job of not overworking himself. He’s proven himself a capable sidekick to MLS Defender of the Year candidate Chad Marshall, once again showing off an impressive aerial ability and generally playing the kind of sound, unflashy, but effective defense that has always been his strength.”
But even beyond his skill, Scott’s experience and role, second to none, as the team’s soul and institutional memory makes him invaluable. “He’s a connection to the past,” says Oshan, “the player who can always be relied upon to explain the importance of beating the Timbers, of making sure the team’s traditions aren’t forgotten.”
Midfielder Brad Evans, Scott’s teammate since 2009, calls him a “role model and somebody that I’ve looked up to” for maintaining a career in top condition: “He’s five, six years my senior, but knowing that if I take care of my body now, I can still play beyond what people other might think is the expectancy of your career… I think for Zach [that’s the] key to where he is right now. I think he came into the league, to be honest, as a role player and was trying to find time and wasn’t finding time, his technique wasn’t quite there yet. But he’s gotten better and better every single year, and that’s a testament to the inner drive that he has… For the past five years he stayed after every single training to work on his technique because he wants to play and knows he can play, and at the end of the day all of that extra work has paid off and he has become an invaluable part of this team.
“That’s the leadership role—young guys see even him working hard after practice and guys feed off of that. Chad Marshall has even said that right now he feels that Zach is the best center back he has ever played with… he’s so mentally strong, which helps out, and completely fearless. These are attributes that are intangible and you just can’t teach.”
For his part, Scott attributes his success to his family’s support. He and his wife Alana, a structural engineer, have been together since high school in Hawaii (she even followed him to Spokane—now that’s commitment); they now have three children, ages 8, 6, and 3. It’s they who have made his stability with the Sounders possible; there are “so many ups and downs in a professional career,” he says, “and my family keeps me grounded.” It’s a benefit Scott pays forward to the team. Asked if they’ll keep up their current record and earn some silverware this year, he’s unhesitatingly confident: “I don’t see what’s stopping us.”
gborchert@seattleweekly.com
Read all of our picks for Sports & Adventure, and explore the rest of this year’s edition of Best of Seattle.
