US Open Cup, 1st Round:
Seattle Sounders Select  4 - 1  Olympia-Stamford
Liberty High School, Renton, WA

Goals:
35' SEA - Burcar
41' OLY - K Segovia (PK)
59' SEA - Foisie (Somoza)
63' SEA - Foisie (Watson)
88' SEA - Kingsley (PK)

Seattle: Carlos Castellanos; Aaron Heinzen, Billy Sleeth, Scott Burcar, Christian van Blommestein; Ben Somoza, Sy Reeves, Jake Sagare (James Vert 76'), Zach Kingsley; Chris Raymond (Greg Foisie 58'), Joe Watson (Evan McNeley 85').

Olympia: Boguslaw Kowalski; Krzysztof Piecak (Dimytro Karabinowicz 76'), Jaroslaw Pacon, Artur Deembiczak (Jason Segovia 58'), Marek Kukulsky; Roland Demba, David Siwanovski, Mariusz Prokor, Bogdan Lonevsky; Anthony Fernandes (Grzegorz Wos 55'), Keith Segovia (Marcin Jajuga 85').

The first match of the first round of the 2001 US Open Cup tournament promised to be an unusual match, with USASA qualifier Olympia (Stamford, Connecticut) traveling nearly 3000 miles to play PDL qualifier Seattle Sounders Select. Olympia are a Polish-American amateur team, probably all O-23 players, while the Sounders Select are almost entirely composed of some of the top college players in Washington. All Sounders Select players were U-23 except for the goalkeeper, Carlos Castellanos.

The match was 1-1 at the half after a goal by Seattle's Burcar was neutralized by a penalty kick by Olympia's Keith Segovia. Seattle substitute Foisie changed the match by scoring two goals within 5 minutes of his entrance. At the end, Kingsley added Seattle's 4th goal with a penalty kick. Olympia grew increasingly frustrated after the match winner and finished the match short a pair of players to yellow-reds.

The Sounders Select advance to the second round of the US Open Cup, where MLS, A-League and D3 teams will join in with four amateur teams from the first round. The draw for the second round will be held on June 13 at US Soccer.

First Half

Olympia's Lonevsky took the first shot, a long one from the left touch line that forced a save by Castellanos at the lower near corner. Then Seattle dominated for most of the rest of the half.

Kingsley sent in a couple of nice crosses from the right, the first one needing a near-post run but not getting one, and the second along the 6-yard line for Raymond on a far-post run, but Kukulsky did well to slide in and clear the cross out for a corner. The resulting corner kick by Somoza was headed over the bar by Sagare.

Olympia's Fernandes shot from the top left corner of the penalty area after his marker slipped and fell, but Castellanos dove to push the ball away from the lower near corner.

For Seattle, Heinzen's cross from the left side behind the defense put Watson free on the right, and his shot deflected over the onrushing goalkeeper Kowalski only to be knocked wide at the post by Pieciak. Watson's cross behind the defense gave Raymond a chance 12 yards out, but he couldn't reach enough of the ball.

Midway in the half, play was fair enough except for a couple of late hits on goalkeeper Castellanos. Only four fouls each way thus far.

Kingsley's cross from the right was directed on goal by Raymond, block-saved at the near post by Kowalski. Watson's 25-yard free kick from the right side went past the wall towards the far post, but Kowalski parried it wide for a throw-in.

Olympia had a chance from a 35-yard free kick up the middle, but Demba skied the free kick.

A nice cross by Watson from the left was over Kowalski and popped up by a defender's head at the far post, and Kingsley's header was comfortably saved by Kowalski.

35' Burcar. A Seattle attack was broken up by Olympia, but Burcar on a run up the middle hammered the loose ball from 15 yards out. Kowalski flew to his right to get a hand on the shot, but it had too much mustard on it and carried into the net. 1-0 Seattle.

41' K Segovia (PK). K Segovia placed a nice 25-yard shot at the lower far corner and Castellanos dove nicely to parry the ball wide. Fernandes leaped in to challenge for the rebound and Reeves collided with him, the airborn Fernandes getting knocked down. Reeves didn't try to foul, but Fernandes' hustle had put him in the better position and referee Kevin Boisen awarded a penalty kick. K Segovia put the PK to the left side with Castellanos guessing the wrong way. 1-1.

The rest of the half saw Olympia come to life. Prokor headed a corner kick on goal, caught at the bar by Castellanos. From another corner kick play, Fernandes' shot from 15 yards was aimed nicely at the top left corner but parried and gathered by Castellanos.

Halftime: Seattle 1 - 1 Olympia

Seattle attacked early in the second half. Watson spotted Raymond open in the area on the left, but Raymond's 15-yard shot was off target. From a 25-yard free kick play, Kingsley at the spot redirected the centered ball a yard wide of the near post.

Olympia's Siwanovski received a pass near the spot, and with Castellanos yelling "hand ball!" Siwanovski shot a half yard wide.

At 55', Sagare ran up the left side and beat a defender for a 20-yard shot sent right into Kowalski's bread basket.

59' Foisie (Somoza). Foisie entered in the 58th for Raymond, and on his second touch Foisie at the spot volleyed Somoza's corner kick inside the far post despite being tightly marked. 2-1 Seattle.

63' Foisie (Watson). From in front of Seattle's bench, Watson curled a cross over the defense. Foisie outraced two defenders and the goalkeeper to the ball and the first shot from the 18 deflected off the charging Kowalski to dribble in front of goal. Pacon tried to hold Watson to keep him from getting to the loose ball, but Watson pulled free and finished into the empty net. Pacon was cautioned for the futile holding. 3-1 Seattle.

Olympia's frustration became evident as their fouling increased in frequency and roughness. Lonevsky was cautioned in the 69th for taking down Kingsley, then immediately after the restart Lonevsky made a nasty trip from behind on Burcar to make it a pair of yellows and a red within 60 seconds. Then Demba, who had been cautioned in the first half, got his second and the red, maybe something he said to referee Boisen, or maybe for something I didn't see.

Olympia's last chance came when a defender decided to let the ball bounce over the goal line, but Pacon got to it and shot into the side netting.

88' Kingsley (PK). A frustrated defender pushed Kingsley down from behind as Kingsley entered the penalty area. Kingsley put a hard PK inside the right post for the final tally.

Final: Seattle 4 - 1 Olympia

This was a challenging match for referee Boisen and his crew, but to our eye they did a fine job. Eight cards to Olympia, but they were all well deserved. Olympia were in it for 60 minutes, but became frustrated after two quick goals put the match away for Seattle. From this fan's perspective, the match was a rare delight.

It is too bad that US Soccer doesn't allow more time between the end of qualification and round 1. It seems that the teams had to hastily agree on a Friday fixture (which replaced a planned PDL fixture for the host), then a day or two before kickoff Olympia called and said they couldn't make it out west in time. The match was rescheduled a day later. There was little time to publicize the first-planned fixture, and no time to get much word out about the final fixture. This rare match with meaning deserved a good writeup in the papers, but there was no time for it. The match was a rare treat for those who did show up, which were mostly friends and family of the home team. Attendance was free.

Statistics:
         Seattle  Olympia
Shots:      24       9
Saves:       3       7
Corners:     7       3
Fouls:      16      26
Offsides:    5       1

Misconduct:
28' OLY - Demba cautioned for deliberately handling the ball just outside the penalty area.
39' OLY - Deembiczak cautioned after after Somoza was tripped twice inside 30 seconds.
63' OLY - Pacon cautioned for holding Foisie trying to prevent him from getting to a ball in front of an empty goal.
69' OLY - Lonevsky cautioned for taking Kingsley down.
70' OLY - Lonevsky cautioned for tripping Burcar from behind, sent off for the second caution.
75' OLY - Demba cautioned probably for something he said to the referee, sent off for the second caution.

Referee: Kevin Boisen; Asst Refs: Jason Panos, Doug Pinski; 4th: Mark Matthews
Attendance: 70