Seattle Sounders  2 - 1  San Diego Flash FC
Memorial Stadium, Seattle, WA

Goals:
9' SEA - Jenkins (Farrell)
21' SEA - O'Brien
70' SD - Adair (Watson)

Seattle: Preston Burpo; Mike Casale, Kieran Barton, Ryan Edwards; Scott Jenkins, Sean Henderson, Leighton O'Brien, Jason Farrell (Kei Kinoshita 55'); Viet Nguyen (Jeremy Sweet 80'), Rees Bettinger, Kyle Smith (Craig Tomlinson 45').

San Diego: Tim Gorman; Trevor Persson (Nate Hetherington 64'), PJ Brown, Adam Maurer, Jerome Watson; Hugo Alcaraz (Chugger Adair 60'), Hugo Llamas, Carlos Calderson; Javier Bustos, Thiago Martins, Miguel Luna.

The Seattle Sounders took an early 2-0 lead, then held on to beat the San Diego Flash FC 2-1. Early goals from Scott Jenkins and Leighton O'Brien were all Seattle would get, and a 70th minute goal by Chugger Adair made it close until the final whistle.

Seattle's Rees Bettinger showed up clean shaven and shorn short, and Jeremy Sweet showed up with a short haircut instead of his long ponytail, both players forfeiting their chances at the A-League All-Hair Team.

First Half

San Diego's Thiago Martins, who would be dangerous all night long, headed the first shot in the 2nd minute, and Preston Burpo easily saved.

9' Jenkins (Farrell). On an attack, Jason Farrell in the middle sent a diagonal ball left for Jenkins to run onto, and from the top left corner of the penalty area Jenkins bent in what at first looked like a cross, but with the sun in goalkeeper Tim Gorman's eyes the ball straightened out and caught the top far corner for a goal. 1-0 Seattle.

San Diego came right back quickly. Javier Bustos headed just wide from a long ball into the penalty area. Miguel Luna's 35-yard free kick was a blast to the lower left corner, and Burpo dove fully extended to deflect the shot wide for a corner kick. From the corner kick, Jerome Watson got a head on the ball but couldn't get it on goal.

21' O'Brien. Carlos Calderson fouled O'Brien a yard outside the penalty area, then Calderson earned a yellow card for persistent complaining about the call, which seemed reasonable to us. With the ball spotted just left of the arc, O'Brien curled his shot around the right end of the wall and just inside the right post, waist high. 2-0 Seattle.

In the 38th, a San Diego defender tried to clear Rees Bettinger's cross but put it on his own goal, forcing a diving parry at the near post by Gorman, yielding a corner.

Another free kick by Luna, this time from the top left corner of the area, was a rocket at the far post, but Burpo dove left to catch it.

Halftime: Seattle 2 - 0 San Diego

Near the start of the second half, Bettinger launched a counterattack with a long ball past the San Diego defense. Craig Tomlinson, on at the half, just beat Gorman to the ball outside the 18 yard line, and Tomlinson touched the ball past Gorman and straight up the middle slowly. Adam Maurer got to the slow roller just in time to clear it sideways off the goal line.

Carlos Calderson put a 61st-minute San Diego free kick from 35 yards hard at the near post, and Burpo did well to parry the tricky ball wide for a corner.

From a Seattle free kick play, Tomlinson redirected a centered ball to Jenkins, whose pressured volley was wide left. Seattle got a rare indirect free kick a couple of yards inside the 18 when a ball sent over the San Diego defense was volleyed off the foot of a defender to Gorman, who caught the back pass. Viet Nguyen dropped the indirect free kick back for O'Brien, who fired low to the left of the wall and nearly had a second goal, but Gorman dove right to block the shot and a defender sent the rebound out for a corner.

70' Adair (Watson). Jerome Watson sent an air ball from the right touch line to just in front of the spot, where tall ex-Sounder Adair outleaped his marker to flick the ball past Burpo and inside the far post. Adair had his revenge for the chants of "Sounders reject!" heard when he had entered the match ten minutes earlier. 2-1 Seattle.

With Seattle unable to manage any more good shots, the Flash had some attempts at leveling the score. Bustos' header from 15 yards was caught at the bar by Burpo. Luna tried a quick shot from 25 yards that missed by a few yards. In injury time, Nate Hetherington was put free for a shot from 15 yards, and Burpo collapsed to block the shot at the near post, the rebound in front of the goal cleared sideways by Jenkins.

Final: Seattle 2 - 1 San Diego

Statistics:
         Seattle  San Diego
Shots:       9       16
Saves:       6        1
Corners:     5       10
Fouls:      21       16
Offsides:    5        1

Misconduct:
21' SD - Calderson cautioned for dissent after fouling O'Brien.
39' SEA - Bettinger cautioned for an altercation on the ground after the ball was gone.
78' SD - Maurer cautioned for kicking the ball away before a Seattle free kick.
88' SD - Adair cautioned for sliding into Barton late with the leg up.

Referee: Kevin Boisen; Asst Refs: Mike Fox, Mohammed Zarrabi-Kashani; 4th: Sandy Hunt.
Attendance: 1,322