Mark Peterson (April 19, 1960 – July 7, 2011) was an American soccer forward who played professionally in the North American Soccer League, Major Indoor Soccer League and

Western Soccer Alliance Western Soccer Alliance was a professional soccer league featuring teams from the West Coast of the United States and Western Canada. The league began in 1985 as the Western Alliance Challenge Series. In 1986, it became the Western Soccer Alli ...

. He also earned six

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, scoring one goal, with the

United States men's national soccer team The United States men's national soccer team (USMNT) represents the United States in men's international soccer competitions. The team is controlled by the United States Soccer Federation and is a member of FIFA and CONCACAF. The U.S. team h ...

Youth

Peterson was born and raised in

Tacoma, Washington Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and northwest of Mount Rainier National Pa ...

, where he attended Wilson High School. He played soccer at Wilson, as well as for the Norpoint Royals Soccer Club.

Professional

Peterson elected to forgo college and joined the

Seattle Sounders Seattle Sounders Football Club is an American professional men's soccer club based in Seattle. The Sounders compete as a member of the Western Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). The club was established on November 13, 2007, and began ...

development program in 1979. This was the Sounders' sixth season in the North American Soccer League (NASL). In 1980, he was called up to the first team where he had an immediate impact. In 34 games that year, he scored 18 goals. Despite his prolific scoring pace, he came in second for 1980 Rookie of the Year to

Jeff Durgan Jeffrey "Jeff" Durgan (born August 29, 1961, in Tacoma, Washington) is a retired U.S. soccer defender who played professionally for the New York Cosmos and seven times for the U.S. national team. NASL Durgan was born and raised in Tacoma, W ...

of the

New York Cosmos New York Cosmos may refer to * New York Cosmos (1970–1985), a team in the North American Soccer League (then the top-tier soccer league in the United States and Canada) * New York Cosmos (2010), a team playing since 2020 in the National Independ ...

, a youth teammate of Peterson's at the Norpoint Royals. In 1981, Peterson experienced a sophomore slump, scoring only five goals in 21 games, but came back strong in 1982 to bag 19 goals in 38 games and take the 1982 North American Player of the Year honors. In 1983, he continued his excellent work with the Sounders, but experienced a difficult playing situation. The U.S. Soccer Federation (USSF) had placed the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

, known as Team America into the NASL as one of the league's franchises. They did this in order to create a more unified and successful team. However, several top U.S. players, Peterson included, chose not to join Team America. This sparked considerable consternation and bitterness within the national team as players with Team America criticized those who remained with their NASL teams. The pressure on USSF and Team America mounted as the national team performed poorly. Finally, USSF negotiated an agreement with the other NASL teams to allow them to loan U.S. players to Team America when they were not needed. This resulted in Peterson playing 21 games in 1983 for the Sounders and 7 games for Team America. Unfortunately for Peterson, both the Sounders and Team America folded at the end of the 1983 season. On October 2, 1983, he was selected by the

in the Sounders’ dispersal draft. He never played for the Cosmos as the NASL began to collapse. On November 24, 1983, he signed a two-year contract with Tacoma Stars of Major Indoor Soccer League. He led the team in scoring during the 1983–1984 season. In March 1987, he signed with

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in the

National team

Despite his proven scoring ability, Peterson earned only six

with the

between 1980 and 1985. In 1980, he was still a young player and had difficulty breaking into the U.S. front line of

Boris Bandov Boris Bandov (born November 23, 1953) is a Bosnian American retired soccer player who currently coaches youth soccer. Bandov spent ten seasons in the North American Soccer League, two in the Major Indoor Soccer League and one in the United Soc ...

, Steve Moyers and

Angelo DiBernardo Angelo DiBernardo (born May 16, 1956) is an Argentine-American former soccer player who played professionally in the North American Soccer League and Major Indoor Soccer League. He also represented the United States at the 1984 Summer Olympic ...

. In 1981 and 1982, the national team played only a single game each year, Peterson had no part in either one. His last game was a 1–1 World Cup Qualifier tie with Costa Rica on May 26, 1985. Peterson coached the North Tacoma Soccer Club until his death on July 7, 2011.Former Sounder Mark Peterson dies at age 51
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References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Peterson, Mark 1960 births 2011 deaths American soccer players Seattle Storm (soccer) players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) indoor players Team America (NASL) players Seattle Sounders (1974–1983) players Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992) players Tacoma Stars players Western Soccer Alliance players Soccer players from Tacoma, Washington United States men's international soccer players Association football forwards