The Tacoma Defiance continued a weekend of Seattle vs Kansas soccer with a draw against Sporting Kansas City II. The Sporting second team has not been immune to the struggles in Kansas City, as they have started the season with six points through 9 games and a -15 goal difference. With a Defiance starting lineup featuring six players on first-team contracts, taking home three points should have been the expectation.

The first half was eerily similar to Saturday with Defiance dominating the run of play but entering the locker room with a 1-1 draw. They conceded the opening goal in the 40th minute where Charlie Gaffney and Cody Baker did not organize themselves well to cover the cross from the left side. That cross found an unmarked Shane Donovan who was able to score off a header to the near post, past academy goalkeeper Noah Newman in his first start of 2026.

Five minutes later, Baker equalized with a golazo from 25 yards out that was ripped into the upper right corner. This shot came off a clearance but the sequence right before was representative of how dangerous the left side of the team was. Peter Kingston found a cross-field ball to Sebastian Gomez, his combination play with Codey Phoenix and ability to create space on the dribble led to the cross. 

The second half was more evenly played throughout but ended the same as the first with a goal apiece. The Defiance first-teamers came through in the 57th minute when Gomez received the ball on the left touchline, dribbled and centered for Osaze De Rosario. He made a nice move around the defender and slotted the ball in the corner from the top of the box.

SKC II scored in the 63rd minute on a corner after the initial ball wasn’t cleared. It bounced around before landing to previous goal scorer Donovan whose shot was on target but got a slight touch from Tega Ikoba.

With regulation ending in a draw, the teams went to a PK shootout where Defiance won 4–2 after Newman made two saves. Edson Carli converted the winning spot kick.

Overview

Lineup

Stats

xG

Shots

Key performers

Sebastian Gomez

Gomez is making the left winger position his own, consistently being a dangerous outlet and getting an assist in his second straight game. His dribbling and passing ability make him a creative machine out wide and he is finding dangerous passes forward illustrated by his four key passes on the evening. He also finds the pass before the pass, like in the 46th minute when he finds a little through ball from top of the box to Tsukanome on the right side of the box. This led to a dangerous cross to De Rosario but was really kickstarted by Gomez. He has grown throughout the year thus far and looks to be hitting a strong run of form.

Peter Kingston

Kingston returned to the double-pivot in this one and showed why this is probably his best position moving forward. He set the tempo for the team, keeping possession with 86% passing on 58 attempts. However, he also knew when to take the chance and had two key passes of his own. His best pass of the evening was in the 11th minute when he broke two lines on a through ball to Mark O’Neill. His versatility is a key factor in getting as many minutes as he has with the first team but performances like tonight make the case on where he should be long term.

Osaze De Rosario

De Rosario got a run out a day earlier with the first team and followed that up with a start for Defiance. He wasn’t quite as involved as is ideal with only 3 total shots but he was also in the right positions and close to finishing in the 2nd and 46th minute. He did ultimately find the back of the net in the 57th minute after receiving the ball at the top of the box, beating his defender to open up space and placing his shot in the corner. The longer run out and seeing the ball hit the back of the net will hopefully get him some rhythm for his next appearance at the first team.

Highlights

Replay

While delivering his speech at the University of Michigan’s spring 2026 commencement ceremony, history professor Derek Peterson, outgoing chair of the University of Michigan’s Faculty Senate and Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs, told graduates to remember pro-Palestine student activists when singing the University’s fight song.

“Sing for the pro-Palestinian student activists, who have over these past two years opened our hearts to the injustice and inhumanity of Israel’s war in Gaza,” Peterson said.

Since 2023, student activists have called for the divestment of the University’s endowment from companies with financial ties to Israel’s military campaign Gaza, which has killed more than 75,000 people and has been classified as a genocide by the United Nations. The University has consistently refused demands for divestment and financial transparency.

Peterson also told graduates to remember historical activists and social movements. These included Sarah Burger, a suffragette who campaigned for the University to accept women in 1858; Moritz Levi, who fought against antisemitism as one of the University’s first Jewish faculty members in 1896; and the Black Action Movement of the 1970s and 80s, which fought for the rights of students of Color on campus.

“The greatness of this institution does not only rest on the shoulders and on the accomplishments of our student athletes, who deserve all the congratulations we can offer them,” Peterson said. “The greatness of this university rests also on the courage and the conviction of student activists who have pushed this university down the path towards justice.”

Following the commencement ceremony, excerpts of Peterson’s speech quickly spread across social media. An Instagram post by Students for Justice in Palestine praising his remarks currently has 430,000 views, and a post to X by StopAntisemitism calling for Peterson to be fired currently has 1.9 million views.

In an email to The Michigan Daily, Peterson wrote that he believes his statements have recieved an excessive amount of controversy online.

“It should not be controversial to have one’s ‘heart opened to the inhumanity and injustice of Israel’s war in Gaza’, which is what I credited activists with doing,” Peterson wrote. “Having an open heart to other people’s suffering is a fundamental human virtue, and it is a quality that I hope we teach our students, whatever their political posture might be.”

The University has previously reacted negatively toward pro-Palestine student activists at commencement and elsewhere, and Peterson’s speech received a similar response. The University’s commencement recording has since been removed from YouTube, and University President Domenico Grasso issued a statement apologizing for Peterson’s remarks, calling them “hurtful and insensitive.”

“Everyone in our community is entitled to their own views; but this was neither the time nor the place,” Grasso wrote. “Commencement is a time of celebration, recognition and unity. The Chair’s remarks were expected to be congratulatory, not a platform for personal or political expression. Introducing such commentary in this setting was inappropriate and did not align with the purpose of the occasion.”

When asked about his reaction to the issued statement, Peterson told The Daily he has had a productive working relationship with Grasso, but wrote that it was “not his finest hour.”

Grasso’s statement has received backlash from the U-M community. The day after commencement, several faculty members wrote an open letter demanding Grasso retract his statement and apologize to Peterson. The letter says Peterson’s remarks were an appropriate celebration of the University’s students and values.

“Professor Peterson’s remarks were thoughtful, informed, instructive, and ethically rich,” the letter read. “President Grasso’s response was none of that. It represents a sad abrogation of the ideals and principles which should have been upheld and celebrated on the dais and from the Office of the President. President Grasso and those who compelled him to issue his unfortunate statement would do well to go back and rewatch Professor Peterson’s speech, this time listening for what they can learn, from history and about the future.”

At press time more than 600 students, faculty and staff have signed their names to the letter.

Daily News Editor Glenn Hedin can be reached at heglenn@umich.edu.

Related articles