LEWIS COUNTY, WA— The Northwest Premier League (NWPL) is excited to announce the seventh club accepted into the statewide women’s elite amateur soccer league is the Twin City Union, who will represent the Centralia / Chehalis area along with the whole of Lewis County.



Even before this official announcement excitement has been spreading around Lewis County soccer. Word is getting out and “TCU” is hearing from various folks, including Onalaska Girls High School Head Coach Christopher Van Clifford. “TCU will be able to provide opportunities to watch live soccer played at a high level. With the notion that high school age players may some day be able to play on the team, more players may choose to play select soccer,” Van Clifford says. “A stable select soccer program for high school age players has been missing from Lewis County. TCU has the opportunity be able to bridge the gap between players who just play high school soccer and the players who want to play for Centralia College and the elite adult team.”

Van Clifford likes the path that the new Lewis County NWPL team could create for players. “In conjunction with the new women’s team at Centralia College, there will be a clear path for players to follow to play soccer in Lewis County. While many of the players will come from outside the area to play on both teams, a talented player in Lewis County has the ability to play at any age at stay in the area. This has the potential to keep girls playing soccer at the younger ages.”

Horst Malunat, Head Coach of the new Centralia College women’s team, sees a similar opportunity. “I think TCU will play a major role in sports past college in the community and being the only elite adult type team will be great exposure of local talent in our area, which in some cases is overlooked. I also think it will enhance the excitement of women’s sports in general, especially soccer.”

Henry Gallanger, Head Coach of Girls Soccer at Centralia High School,has been a strong advocate of making TCU happen. “When the college hired Head Coach Horst Malunat, most of the girls soccer coaches in our area got together to discuss how a relationship between high school and college could work,” Henry says. “We as coaches all agreed that developing players was paramount to every high school program and the college would receive these benefits as well. TCU was created to address just that, the development of our local players. With the addition of the elite adult team, it is our hope to create a vision for all players, a vision that includes clear developmental paths for high school, club, college and beyond.”

We’ll be learning more about Twin City Union in the coming weeks and months as the club presents an official crest, a head coach, and makes other announcements in preparation for the 2016 NWPL season.

The NWPL is an elite, amateur, highly competitive women’s soccer league for players, coaches, families and fans around the state of Washington to come together through the sport of soccer. Players and coaches can enhance their skills in the NWPL during the summer break from college. Families and fans can cheer their local stars.

Earlier Olympic Force, South Sound FC, Spokane Shadow, Fuerza FC, Seattle Uninube FC and Yakima United FC were announced as clubs in the NWPL.

League progress can be followed on the official NWPL website at www.NorthwestPremierLeague.com, on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/NWPLsoccer and on Facebook atwww.Facebook.com/NWPremierLeague.

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