After taking home the 1A Washington state title to end a two-decade championship drought a year ago, the UPrep boys soccer team had deep shoes to fill for the 2026 season.
The team named returning starters and seniors Brody Eintracht, Rowan Sim, Auggie Reed and Max Cook as captains.
Eintracht spearheaded the scoring effort last season, leading the team in total goals with 11.
“Being a captain this year feels different because the expectations are so high,” Eintracht said. “But there’s no doubt this is gonna be a fun year.”
Nate Whitney entered his 14th year coaching soccer at UPrep this season. His impact was officially recognized last year when Whitney won the 2025 United Soccer Coaches Washington State Coach of the Year for independent high schools.
The Pumas opened the 2026 season with 1-0 victories against Burlington-Edison High School and conference opponent King’s High School.
“No one is surprised anymore. We know what we’re capable of,” Eintracht said. “The goal is to go back-to-back.”
As the season came to a close on April 30, the team sat at 7-3-2, including a 1-0 loss against 4A Inglemoor High School. Traditionally, matches between 4A and 1A schools are not as close. This 4A classification comes as Inglemoor has an enrollment of more than 1,500 students, whereas UPrep has only had 424 students enrolled in the high school, allowing for fewer total tryout and team numbers.
Cook felt the team was often caught in the crosshairs of a bizarre league schedule.
“The whole season we’ve been saying this is the weirdest season we’ve seen from the conference,” Cook said. “Teams who shouldn’t be winning have been beating up good teams.”
The Pumas placed third in the Emerald Sounds Conference.
“We had higher expectations; you’re always going to have higher expectations after winning state,” Cook said. “It’s not a bad feeling; it’s not a good feeling. It went by so fast.”
On Tuesday, May 5, Eastside Prep took a 2-1 win over the Pumas in the opening round of the District Playoffs.
Cook hopes for the team to remain fired up as they are now in a win-or-go-home mindset.
“Just use it as fuel,” Cook said. “I don’t like to dwell too much on especially tough losses like that. I think you can use it as motivation and then obviously translate it to your next game, which is an important one.”
The Pumas will head to Overlake on Friday, May 8. In order to stay alive in the quest to repeat, the Pumas will have to win their next two games for a bid to the state tournament. With another loss, the season will be over.
