The men’s soccer team at Shoreline Community College this season may wear green and white, but if you look closer you may also see the colors of the Mountlake Terrace Hawks.

Four former Hawks are on the roster of the 2015 Shoreline Community College Dolphins; in addition, the team is coached by George Dremousis, who also coaches the Mountlake Terrace boys team each spring.

Victor Ruelas, Ivan Melchor and Alec Somers all played for Dremousis during their soccer days at Mountlake Terrace. Brier resident and Providence Classical Christian School graduate Matthew Moisant played a year of basketball in 2013-14 for the Hawks.

The former Hawks all concur that playing soccer at the college level is quite different from what they experienced in high school. “It’s a lot more physical that before,” Ruelas said.

“It’s a lot faster, (with) people coming harder at you,” agreed Melchor. “You’ve got to release the ball quicker. You can’t be taking too many touches because you can get hurt.”

In the Dolphins’ matchup with the Edmonds Community College Triton on Sept. 19 both Melchor and Somers had to be assisted off the field after hard collisions; neither returned to action after their injuries.

Despite being kicked in the foot, Melchor said after the match that he welcomes the intense style of college soccer. “I like playing more physical that the way we played in high school,” he said.

Dremousis noted that the college game, with much more skilled players, also moves much more rapidly than the play at high school. “It’s a quicker game, a faster game,” he said. “Everyone can play. You may have a forward in high school that can just flat out score on his own (because) he can beat four or five defenders — you’re not going to have that in the college game.”

Ruelas, Melchor and Somers all play on the forward line for Shoreline. In the Sept. 19 match Somers scored his first college goal, a header off a throw-in over the out-stretched arms of Edmonds Community College goalkeeper Giberto Avila.

Dremousis has high expectations for Ruelas, Melchor and Somers this year. “The first expectation is for them to stay on the first team, keep playing, keep working hard and get to the next level — the four-year college level,” Dremousis said. “It could be a one-year process; it could be a two-year process. A lot of it is up to them. They have to keep getting better each day at training, pushing themselves.”

Dremousis confessed that for the former Hawks to get noticed by four-year college recruiters the entire team will also have to have some success this year. “We have to get some results because four-year colleges tend to recruit a little heavier on teams that are in the playoffs because they get attention. I think we’ll make it (but) we’ve got to start getting some ‘W’s instead of ties.”

The 2015 Dolphins’ record currently sits at 0-0-6. Shoreline Community College next plays at Everett Community College on Wednesday, Sept. 23; the post-season is scheduled to begin Nov. 4.

While Ruelas and Somers may head off to play at a four-year college either next year or in 2017, Melchor has other plans. “I just wanted to play one more year of soccer before going on to play football somewhere else,” he said. “I just wanted one more year to see how physical it is compared to high school. I also got a scholarship here and I wanted to take the opportunity of one more year of soccer before moving on to football.”

Melchor and his Dolphin teammates have 12 more match opportunities to prove themselves this regular season. To view the entire Shoreline Community College Dolphins 2015 season schedule, click https://www.shoreline.edu/athletics/mens-soccer/schedule.aspx. Home matches are played on-campus at 16101 Greenwood Avenue North in Shoreline.

— By Doug Petrowski