Eastern WA soccer legend dies. Three Rivers squad wins national opener in his honor

Before the United States Youth Soccer national tournament even began on Tuesday, the Three Rivers Black 19U team members knew they were going to be playing with heavy hearts.

On Monday night, the team found out that Chad Bodnar, who was the Three Rivers Soccer club’s technical director, had unexpectedly passed away that evening due to an infection.

Bodnar, 45, had been an integral part of the soccer community in the Tri-Cities, Walla Walla and at Eastern Washington University.

Jason Quintero, Three Rivers’ youth director and head coach of the 19U Black team, said he was in shock.

“Chad was the reason I was in coaching,” said Quintero. “He took me to Eastern. He made it possible for my wife and I to come back to the Tri-Cities. I was just texting with him last Thursday. We were talking about long-term plans with the club.”

Quintero said Bodnar coached at least five members of the 19U Black team in Olympic Development Program soccer too.

There were a lot of Bodnar stories being told late Monday night in the team’s hotel rooms in Orlando.

But there was also a national tournament to play, and the Three Rivers Black gathered enough strength on Tuesday night to beat South Mississippi 2-1 in their pool-play opener.

“It’s the same story with this club,” said Quintero. “My wife went out and got some intel from the other team. They have five Division I players. We have one Division 2 player. But we just grinded out results again.”

Three Rivers jumped out to a 2-0 lead.

Emma Haertling — a Chiawana High School athlete — scored the team’s first goal off an assist from Claire Potter (a Pasco High graduate who will play this fall for Western Washington University).

Then 3RS Black made it 2-0, as Kate Hollenberg (Kamiakin) scored off an assist from Violet Duran (Hanford).

Quintero said that the team scored a third goal that was taken away.

Keeper play was split between Danika Galbraith (Southridge) and Lindsey Pasena-Littlesky (Hermiston).

“I told the girls after the game to just keep doing what they’re doing,” said Quintero. “I told them to remember how they got here. The memories that you make here you’ll remember for the rest of your life.”

The Three Rivers Black team’s second pool-play games is at 5 p.m. Wednesday, with the Tri-Cities team playing the Strikers of Fox Valley, Ill.

The game will be live-streamed on Vimeo at https://vimeo.com/showcase/9678336?video=730365545.

▪ Bodnar’s loss to the soccer community — as well as the community as a whole — is huge.

His soccer resume is impeccable.

The Pasco High graduate won three Northwest Athletic Conference women’s soccer championships in his 10 seasons as head coach at Walla Walla Community College, before moving on to EWU.

In Cheney, Bodnar has a record of 73-44-15 with the Eagles, and was the Big Sky Conference Coach of the Year in 2019.

Bodnar led Eastern to two NCAA Tournaments during his tenure in Cheney.

But despite that, his contract wasn’t renewed in late May of 2021.

“All he did was win,” said Quintero.

Bodnar got on the wrong side of the EWU administration with his pushing for better conditions for his soccer team, whether they be better traveling arrangements, or no more short-term contracts for some of his assistants, as examples.

“I’m a direct communicator, perhaps too much,” Bodnar told the Spokesman Review’s Jim Allen back in May of 2021.

In December of 2021, he confirmed to the Spokesman Review that he was suing the school for discrimination.

Bodnar’s father, Bob Bodnar — who was a legendary wrestling coach for years at Pasco High — passed away in December of 2020.

Chad Bodnar had been working with the Three Rivers Soccer Club organization as its technical director.

Bodnar is survived by his wife and twin daughters.

Youth baseball

▪ Richland National and Walla Walla Valley were both eliminated from the Washington State Little League tournament for 11 year-olds on Tuesday night.

Richland National was edged 6-5 to West Seattle in one loser-out contest, while WWV fell 8-3 to Pacific.

▪ There will be two Cal Ripken Pacific Northwest Regional tournaments this week at the Kennewick American youth baseball complex.

The 11 year-olds, 70-foot basepath tourney features 10 teams, including Kennewick American and Kennewick National all-star teams.

Also competing will be Black Hills (Washington), Co-County (Idaho), Ellensburg (Washington), Gallatin Valley (Montana), Twin Falls (Idaho), Wenatchee (Washington), West Linn (Oregon), and Willamette Valley National (Oregon).

Games run Thursday through Saturday, and begin each day at 8 a.m.

The season ends for all teams with this tournament.

Meanwhile, the 10-team tournament for 10-year-olds also starts Thursday. But it runs through Sunday, with the championship set for 11 a.m. that day.

The winner of this tournament qualifies for the Cal Ripken World Series, which is set for Aug. 4-14 in Vincennes, Ind.

Kennewick American will be the host team.

The other nine teams are Bozeman (Montana), Bitterroot (Montana), Castle Rock/Toutle Lake (Washington), Centerfield (Washington), Co-County (Idaho), Nampa (Idaho), North Olympic (Washington), West Portland (Oregon), and Willamette Valley National (Oregon).

College notes

▪ Southridge High grad Jake Harvey announced on Twitter on Tuesday that he is transferring to Washington State University for what should be his final season.

Harvey, an infielder, had spent the past few seasons at Fullerton State. Before that, he had begun his college career playing for Oregon State University.

▪ A couple of area players recently earned call ups from the summer Cascade Collegiate League to teams in the West Coast League.

Pitcher JC Worsham (Royal), who plays for Wenatchee Valley Community College, recently signed to play with the WCL’s Walla Walla Sweets; while pitcher Mason Hymer, who plays for Columbia Basin College in the spring, got the call for the Bellingham Bells.

Jeff Morrow is former sports editor for the Tri-City Herald.