On Dec. 18, 2021, Jordan Thompson became the first Sumner High School graduate to be drafted by the Women’s Professional Soccer League (WPSL) when she was selected as the 50^th overall pick by the Washington Spirit.

 

A noteworthy accomplishment, you’re thinking, but what does this have to do with the Frosty Westering Excellence in Coach Award. After all, the award is named after Frosty (he was on a first-name basis with pretty much everyone), the National Football Hall of Fame member and long-time head coach who never had a losing record in 32 years at Pacific Lutheran University, and who led the Lutes to four national championships in eight title-game appearances. Frosty was an accomplished coach on the field, but it was his passion for developing character in his players and impacting the community beyond the field that helped make him a legend.

 

Here's the connection. Thompson grew up in the area and played her prep soccer at Sumner High School for Robi Turley, another successful coach on the field who has helped to instill personal character and passion for the sport into countless girls who played soccer for the Spartans. Turley is this year’s winner of the Frosty Westering Excellence in Coaching Award.

 

Robi played at Auburn High School and for national powerhouse FC Royals during her high school years before splitting her collegiate career between the University of Texas-El Paso and the University of Oregon. At Oregon, she was a team captain and a Pac-10 All-Academic selection. A defender, she started every college game in which she played.

 

She got her career going at Kent Meridian High School, where she coached for two years. She made the move south to Sumner, where she “took a competitive team to a new level,” said her friend and former Sumner girls soccer coach Moe Orcutt.

 

Robi’s coaching accomplishments speak for themselves. She has been South Puget Sound League Coach of the Year eight times, Washington State Soccer Coaches Association State Coach of the Year two times, Tacoma News Tribune Area Coach of the Year twice, and Sumner Bonney Lake School District Coach of the Year on two occasions. Additionally, she was a finalist for the PCA National Double goal Award Coach of the Year award. Her career win-loss record is 225-91-32, a .635 winning percentage.

 

Those are just the awards that she has won or been nominated for. Here is why that list is so long.

 

Her teams have won seven SPSL championships, five West Central District crowns, and two Washington Interscholastic Athletic Association state titles. Not only that, but she has also taken 14 teams to the state playoffs, including 13 in a row. 

 

“I look at Robi as a players’ coach,” Orcutt said. “Her dedication, preparation, going the extra mile for the girls is why they love to play for her. She sets challenging yet attainable expectations for herself, the players and the program.”

 

And what is true of Robi on the field is also true off it, Orcutt said. “Over the years I have known several of Robi's players and parents. They always have the highest praise about her coaching and who she is as a person. Robi cares about the players in and out of the season.  I have seen her supporting them at other SHS events, fundraisers, and sporting events, often with her dad or children beside her. Robi is more than a coach, she is a role model every day. I am honored to call her friend.”

 

Many Sumner High student-athletes, under Turley’s guidance, honed their game to the point where they were able to play at the collegiate level, from NCAA Division I all the way to the community college level.

 

Thompson, mentioned at the outset, is one of Turley’s charges who has gone on to big things. A four-year varsity starter, Thompson was a team captain and a member of the 2013 Sumner High state title team. She played her collegiate soccer at Gonzaga University, where she was also a four-year starter and team captain.

 

Sarah Carter, a 2013 graduate, set the stage for Thompson as a four-year starter, team captain and member of the 2012 Sumner High School state championship squad. She also preceded Thompson at Gonzaga, where she started four seasons and served as a team captain. Carter has come full circle at Sumner High, where she is now serving as an assistant coach.

 

Still another Sumner High standout is Alyssa Murray, who graduated in 2015. A four-year starter and a 2013 state champion, Murray played at the University of Wyoming and then semi-professionally for FC Arizona in the National Premier Soccer League.

 

Former Sumner players Kaylie Rozell and Krista Morford played for head coach Seth Spidahl and the nationally recognized Pacific Lutheran women’s soccer team. Another Sumner grad, Haley Bolen, is currently on the Lutes’ roster.

 

“The three players that have come out of Sumner and into PLU women’s soccer have been high character, high integrity people,” Spidahl said. “Amazing teammates, hard workers, dedicated, committed. Some of this has to be attributed to their time playing for Robi at Sumner High School.

 

“Certainly, they had their club soccer careers as well, but the program that Robi has built at Sumner is developing good soccer players and turning out even better people that are more than ready to handle the challenges and adversity of being a college student-athlete.”

 

Making the award even more special to Robi is the fact that she is good friends with Jordan Moog, Frosty’s granddaughter, with whom she taught at Sumner High School for several years. 

“I am humbled to even be considered for the Frosty Westering Excellence in Coaching award,” Coach Turley said. “He was an incredible coach and person that impacted more than just the game of football and the PLU community.”