Spencer Richey came up in the Seattle soccer scene just before the Seattle Sounders launched their academy. The goalkeeper played for Crossfire then moved to the United States residency program in Bradenton before coming back to Seattle to play for the University of Washington.

His time there coincided with the Huskies’ hiring of Jamie Clark and their subsequent rise to national prominence.

During his five years with UW — he added a year due to a medical red shirt — he helped the Huskies become one of the top college programs in the United States before getting drafted by the Vancouver Whitecaps.

Richey spent a couple years with the Whitecaps — even getting a MLS start — before going on loan to FC Cincinnati in the USL. He played well enough to make the jump with them to MLS and despite FCC bringing in a foreign goalkeeper to be the presumed starter, Richey would end up making 19 starts last year and opened this year as the starter again.

We caught up with Richey on Thursday in his Cincinnati home and talked about his rise up the American soccer ladder, his continued fondness for Seattle and his outlook for 2020.

 

This week's music: Perry Como - "Seattle", "RVIVR - "Ocean Song", Woody Guthrie - "Roll On Columbia", "Your Journey Begins" - OurMusicBox (Jay Man) (CC BY 4.0)

Thanks to James Woollard, Sounders Public Address Announcer, for doing our sponsor reads. You can follow him on Twitter at @BritVoxUS - if you’re looking for a British Voice to advertise your business or non-profit, please reach out to him.