2003 Jul 9

Seattle Sounders  6 - 0  Calgary Storm
Seahawks Stadium, Seattle, WA

Goals:
14' SEA - Smith (Callahan)
63' SEA - Edwards (Smith)
66' SEA - Bengard
70' SEA - Scott (Gregor)
79' SEA - Sawataky (Gregor)
83' SEA - Sawatzky (Tomlinson)

Seattle: Rich Cullen; Danny Jackson, Ryan Edwards, Zach Scott; Jason Farrell, Viet Nguyen (Chad Brown 74'), Alex Bengard, Andrew Gregor, Sean-Michael Callahan (Darren Sawatzky 65'); Marco Velez (Craig Tomlinson 74'), Kyle Smith (Ben Somoza 80'). Substitute not used: Preston Burpo, Scott Jenkins, Kevin Sakuda.

Calgary: Dave Wiebenga; CJ Peszneker, Nik Zuniga, Thomas Wheeldon, Mark Korthius (Brendan Garrity 83'); Jordan Gillespie, Conrad Chala, Ian Clarke (Dwayne Gareau 67'); Nik Reyes, Jermaine Richards (Thomas Keegan 74'), Sean Fraser. Substitute not used: Brett McDermott.

Match report by Ron Stickney:

The Seattle Sounders offense had a good night, knocking in 6 to the Calgary Storm's nil. Kyle Smith scored the only goal of the first half and assisted the second goal, finished by Ryan Edwards. Then Alex Bengard and Zach Scott added one each, and Darren Sawatzky got the last two. Rich Cullen returned to goal for the shutout.

It was a dominating performance by the Sounders, who outshot Calgary 18-5. The Storm were playing their first match after the recent departure of their owner, and the team was under the temporary management of the league office.

First Half

Nothing notable happened until the 8th minute when Jason Farrell cracked a surprise shot from 30 yards that bent over goalkeeper Dave Wiebenga, hit the underside of the crossbar and the right post, and rebounded back into play. It would have been the Sounders' goal of the year had it gone in.

14' Smith (Callahan). Sean-Michael Callahan fed Smith on a diagonal run over the penalty arc, and Smith shot low and accurately to the far post, the ball glancing off the post on the way in. 1-0 Seattle.

Calgary came right back with a chance when Sean Fraser sidestepped Edwards' challenge and shot past the charging Cullen, but Edwards recovered to the near post in time to clear Fraser's shot.

Calgary defender Thomas Wheeldon gifted Marco Velez with an unforced turnover 25 yards from goal, and Velez had a go with Wiebenga out but missed by two yards. Smith netted a ball after Velez knocked it off Wiebenga inside the goal area, but the offside flag was up to nullify the apparent goal. After the Sounders pressured Calgary's goal for several seconds in the 32nd minute, Callahan from 18 yards forced the first save of the match, taken overhead by Wiebenga.

In the 39th Calgary's Conrad Chala took their best shot of the half, hitting the top of the bar near the far post from the arc.

In the final minute of the half, a Velez short pass into Bengard's shin ricocheted on goal at the top far corner, but Wiebenga got there to push it wide for a corner, which Edwards headed over the bar from 8.

Halftime: Seattle 1 - 0 Calgary

63' Edwards (Smith). After the second half started with 17 minutes of naught but a few yellow cards, defender Edwards went on the attack up the right side, muscling off a challenger to get near the penalty area, then passing to Smith. A shot by Smith from the right side blocked by a defender, but the rebound went to the 6-yard line and was blasted into the net by Edwards, who had continued his run forward. 2-0 Seattle.

A minute later Viet Nguyen put Callahan free at the penalty spot, but Wiebenga was out to stuff Callahan's shot for a save.

66' Bengard. After Andrew Gregor was fouled roughly near the left end of the arc, Bengard bent the 25-yard free kick nicely over the wall and into the top left corner. 3-0 Seattle.

For Calgary, Nik Reyes received a drop pass near the top left corner of the area and bent a nice shot just a half yard over the top near corner.

70' Scott (Gregor). Smith was pulled down just outside the right edge of the penalty area. Gregor took the free kick, bending it over the crowd and over Bengard's head, but Scott ran onto the ball and slammed it home. 4-0 Seattle.

79' Sawatzky (Gregor). Gregor's through ball put Sawatzky free from the halfway line. Sawatzky stayed a couple of steps ahead of the defenders and finished from 18 past the charging Wiebenga. 5-0 Seattle.

83' Sawatzky (Tomlinson). On a counterattack, Ben Somoza, who had just entered for his first minutes as a Sounder, fed left to an open Craig Tomlinson 35 yards from goal. Tomlinson drew a defender and the goalkeeper, then sent a pass in front of the far post for Sawatzky to run onto and finish into the open net. 6-0 Seattle.

The 87th saw Calgary's best shot when Nik Zuniga bent a 25-yard free kick up the middle to the lower right corner, and Cullen made his only save of the match with a nice dive across the goal mouth.

Final: Seattle 6 - 0 Calgary