WISL Golden Boot race is off the hook this season

The Western Indoor Soccer League (WISL) has never seen a goal scoring race like the one happening in the 2017-18 season. There are veteran performers, rookie faces and goals, goals goals. Take a look at the league graphic below.

Alex Hernandez lines up a shot. The WISL rookie leads the league in scoring right now with 14 goals in six matches played. (Quinn Width)

Hello WISL! Alex Hernandez leads as a rookie with 14 goals.

Rookie Alex Hernandez of the Olympic Force is ripping it up with 14 goals. In that total was a 5-goal performance at Bellingham against the unbeaten Hammers. He’s out of North Kitsap High School and part of a soccer playing family. Alex scored 3 goals and added 2 assists in the Force’s recent win at Oly Town FC. In that match his twin brother Leo scored his first WISL goal as well.

Nick Cashmere

Nick Cashmere (Bellingham native) is a veteran of the WISL who has now won the league’s Offensive Player of the Week award a record five times. He plays a seemingly effortless style and finds himself right where the Hammers need him to be more often than not. He does the same for the EPLWA Hammers. Nick scored four goals last weekend.

Richard Henderson.

Nick’s teammate Richard Henderson is a versatile forward that uses positioning and technique to score for the Hammers. He’s got a soft touch one minute and then is striking one in from distance the next. The Scotland native  holds the record for most goals in a WISL match with six.  (Correction – Chris Jepson scored 7 against Everett in 2017.) He’s also a scoring threat outdoors for BUFC in the EPLWA. Bellingham has two regular season matches left for Cashmere and Henderson to get the Golden Boot: this Saturday January 27 at Tacoma Stars Reserves and February 3 at home against Oly Town Artesians.

Colin Ralston.

Colin Ralston (a star for North Mason High School back in the day) has 5 goals in his outdoor career in the EPLWA and is coming into his own this season for the Force in the WISL. Ralston scored 4 goals to win Player of the Week on January 13 and last week added 2 more. The Force have two home matches remaining for their forwards to win the Golden Boot: this Saturday January 27 against Snohomish and February 3 against the Tacoma Stars Reserves.

The rest of the pack includes two guys for the Snohomish Skyhawks at 9 goals each: Tye Hastings and Paul Burgess. Oly Town FC’s Gabe Zaccagnini scored a hat trick last Saturday to jump into the conversation with 8. That put him one ahead to teammate Matt Stalnik and Tacoma’s Nate Ford.

The complete WISL scoring tables are here.