Last week marked the start of preseason for the back-to-back USL League Two Northwest Division Champions. Led by head coach James Riley, this group of players and staff will look to win a third straight division title and push for more in the 2025 season.
A combination of returners and newcomers make up a highly competitive and deep roster that prioritizes local soccer talent both on the pitch and amongst the technical staff.
Ahead of the May 16th season opener against FC Olympia, we talked to coach Riley about his expectations, and what to look out for as the club begins its title defense.
Key Returners
The 2025 roster is headlined by the number of returners from last season’s division-winning side. With heavy turnover from year to year in USL 2 as a whole, it is rare to find a team like Ballard FC which has been able to find continuity in their roster since their inaugural season in 2022. This continuity allows Ballard FC to have a roster filled with USL 2 experience even with the club only going to their fourth season. The roster includes 17 returners, including four players from the 2023 National Championship roster and two from the inaugural 2022 season (Christian Engmann and Joe Dale).
When asked about having so many returners, Riley focused on the importance of leadership, singling out Dale and Engmann and stating that “their experience and understanding of our team’s dynamics are invaluable. Their leadership on and off the field helps foster a winning culture.” Engmann was co-captain for Ballard FC in 2024, while Dale captained the 2025 Open Cup squad.
In goal, Charlie Lanphier returns to Interbay after being the starter in 2024. In the fall, he was named WAC Preseason Goalkeeper of the Year and helped Seattle University win the WAC Tournament Title, making the All-Tournament Team. Lanphier is the lone returner in the goalkeeping group after Jackson Buck signed a professional contract with Spokane Velocity.
Across the backline, six of the ten rostered defenders return from last season. These six are Engmann, Khai Brisco, Luke Hammond, Isaac Ketcham, Andrew Myerson, and Arjun Venkat. Engmann, Brisco, Hammond, and Ketcham all made multiple starts last season with Engmann receiving USL 2 Team of the Year honors and Brisco getting Team of the Month recognition in May.
Sean Sent, Ray Mendez, Rafi Otero, and Cristian Chel Lara return to the midfield. Otero was an All-American this past fall for Claremont Mudd Scripps and Mendez received Greater Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) Player of the Year honors. After graduating from the University of Washington, Sent is transferring to University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) for his final year of eligibility. Before that, Sent and the rest of the group are poised to have a big summer at Interbay Stadium.
In attack, Dale is joined by returners Charlie Holmes, Austin Brummett, Richie Aman, Cameron Cruz, and Elliot Spatz. The husky trio of Dale, Aman, and Cruz will provide a lot of threat from the wings while providing service for Brummett and the rest of the strikers. Last season, Brummet was Ballard FC’s leading scorer and will look to have similar success after earning All-Conference and All-Region honors with San Diego State and being named a USL 2 Player to Watch ahead of the 2025 season.
New additions
Alongside the 17 returners are a host of exciting new players to complete the roster. Riley says that the Open Cup run helped bring these new players into the fold, noting that “the synergy between our returning players and the new additions is already palpable in training sessions.”
With six players (Leo Burney, Demian Alvarez, Peter Kingston, Charlie Gaffney, Kojo Dadzie, and Buck) from the 2024 roster going pro, there are some positional question marks going into the season. The biggest question mark is in defense with the national title-winning center back pairing of Burney and Alvarez no longer available. To answer this, Ballard FC have added three defenders with professional experience. Omar Grey has four USL Championship appearances with San Antonio FC and nearly 30 MLS NEXT Pro matches with Houston Dynamo II. Dylan Wojdyla has Serie D (Italian 4th tier) and Liga Premier de México (Mexican 2nd tier) experience, while and Davis Mungomba has four Oberliga (German 5th tier) appearances. In addition to those three, center back Tanner Dutra joins the squad. The son of Seattle Sounders Goalkeeper Coach, Tom Dutra, received WAC All-Freshman Team honors this past fall for Utah Tech University.
Outside of defense, Riley mentioned having his eyes on University of Washington’s Zach Ramsey and Seattle University’s Andre Philibbosian. The pair of midfielders both featured for Ballard FC in their 2025 Open Cup run. Both players received All-Freshman honors from their respective conferences (WAC and Big Ten). In 2024, Philibbosian was named to the Top Drawer Soccer Postseason Top 100 Freshman list while Ramsey was named Washington Boys Soccer Gatorade Player of the Year in the summer.
In attack, Riley name-dropped Charlie Kosakoff as a player who will be a handful for opposing defenders. This past fall, Kosakoff was second on the huskies for goals (5) and points (14).
Local Ties and Collegiate Chemistry
A key part of any roster is team chemistry, and Ballard FC’s 2025 team chemistry is aided by the fact that so many of these players are college teammates. Locally, the roster includes eight players who have played for the University of Washington, five from Seattle University, and five from Seattle Pacific. The eight Washington players include returners Dale, Brisco (graduated), Aman, Cruz, and Sent (transferred) as well as new additions Ramsey, Kosakoff and Grey (graduated). The five redhawks are Lanphier, Hammond, Philibbosian, Mungomba, and Wojdyla with four of them on their roster last fall. At Interbay Stadium, returners Mendez, Ketcham, and Chel Lara played alongside Connor Tollan and Mitchell Wilson for Seattle Pacific.
Even farther away this trend continues with groups at an additional three universities. Returners Engmann and Brummett played alongside Beto Apolinar and Trevor Wilson at San Diego State in the fall. Since then, Brummett has transferred to the University of Connecticut (UConn) to form a duo with Holmes. Lastly, Dutra is not the only Trailblazer on the squad as his teammate Stockton Short will join the goalkeeper group.
The chemistry does not stop there. For the first time in Ballard FC history, we have a pair of brothers on the roster. Nii Engmann, Christian Engmann’s older brother, will join the Ballard FC attack in 2025.
Earning their Spot
Every year, Ballard FC hosts open tryouts and has had at least one player make the final roster from these tryout sessions. In 2022, Dale made the squad from tryouts alongside Cole Weaver, Zane Baumgardt, and Johnny Ramirez. In 2023, we welcomed Pierluca Carnovale from tryouts and last season Chel Lara and Venkat were tryout additions.
This year is no different. Kaydin Wall and Abeselom Zemenfes impressed at open tryouts this past winter to make the summer roster.
Wall, a former Western Washington University standout, joins the squad after receiving All-Conference and All-Region honors in his final year of college soccer.
Before Ballard FC, Zemenfes played in the Ethiopian Premier League with Saint George SC and won a league title in the 2022-23 season. After fleeing his home country due to a civil war, he found Ballard FC through tryouts and the rest is history.
Players with Pedigree
Obviously 17 of these players won a division title last summer, with four of those winning the national title in 2023. But the pedigree does not stop there.
There are eight WAC champions, five Pac-12 Champions, a NESCAC Champion, and an All-American on this roster. Over ten players on the roster received either all-conference or all-region honors in the fall. Six players have made their professional debuts.
On top of it all, this talented roster is led by five time U.S. Open Cup winner and MLS Cup Champion James Riley, who is creating a winning culture both from back to front and top to bottom.
See you at Interbay this summer…
