2003 May 4

Seattle Sounders  1 - 2  Calgary Storm
Seahawks Stadium, Seattle, WA

Goals:
12' CAL - Gillespie (Fraser)
55' CAL - Zuniga (PK)
90' SEA - Smith (O'Brien)

Seattle: Rich Cullen; Danny Jackson, Zach Scott, Ryan Edwards; Viet Nguyen (Darren Sawatzky 46'), Andrew Gregor, Leighton O'Brien, Alex Bengard, Jason Farrell (Marco Velez 72'); Sean-Michael Callahan, Kyle Smith. Substitutes not used: Ryan Wittstruck, Kevin Sakuda, Greg Foisie, Matt Hulen, Craig Tomlinson.

Calgary: James Glasnovic; Liam DeSilva, Thomas Wheeldon, CJ Peszneker (Mike Kennedy 66'), Jordan Gillespie; Jermaine Richards (Keegan Thomas 90'), Conrad Chala, Richard Henry, Nicolas Zuniga; Brett Bachelu (Ajai Authers 58'), Sean Fraser (Mark Korthuis 62'). Substitute not used: David Wiebenga.

Match report by Ron Stickney:

The Seattle Sounders were surprisingly upset by the Calgary Storm, who rebounded after a season-opening 6-0 loss in Vancouver the previous evening. Last season, Calgary's first in the A-League, all four matches versus Calgary were won by the Sounders.

Calgary took the early lead with a goal by Jordan Gillespie. But the turning point was when Seattle's Sean-Michael Callahan was red-carded for a retaliatory foul midway in the first half. Calgary got an important insurance goal via Nicolas Zuniga's penalty kick. Seattle finally scored in the 90th minute when Kyle Smith headed in a corner kick.

The match was the last with midfielder and A-League MVP Leighton O'Brien, who has been loaned to Boden in Sweden's second division.

Since Calgary had only white jerseys, Sounders fans got to see their team's dark green shirts with the unreadable black numbers. We heard that this problem will be corrected by the next match.

First Half

Calgary began working on Callahan early when goalkeeper James Glasnovic unnecessarily dove forward into Callahan's legs while catching the ball. Callahan responded two minutes later with a left-footed shot from 25 yards that glanced off the top of the crossbar near the far post.

12' Gillespie (Fraser). Calgary took the early lead when Sean Fraser fed Gillespie on an overlapping run around the left side. Gillespie shot from ten yards at a steep angle and it went between goalkeeper Rich Cullen's legs and inside the far post. 0-1 Calgary.

A few minutes later Alex Bengard was free on the left when his marker tried for a diagonal through ball and missed. Bengard crossed the ball into the goal area, a defender beat Smith to it but couldn't manage to clear it, and Smith stretched for a shot that the defender deflected wide for a corner kick. In the 17th minute Gregor carried the ball to the middle of the penalty area and dropped it to Callahan in the arc, and the shot was deflected just wide for another corner.

The 20th saw Callahan making a run up the middle to get to a diagonal through ball played into the penalty area, but Callahan was elbowed in the head and he collapsed. The referee apparently didn't see the elbow and waved off Callahan's appeal. Two minutes later Callahan unwisely decided to retaliate, sliding cleats first at a Calgary defender in possession and getting the lower leg with both cleats. It was a red card all the way, and now the Sounders faced the difficult task of overcoming a deficit shorthanded. The Sounders would control the ball well the rest of the way, but would be unable to score enough.

In the 33rd defender Ryan Edwards surprised the Calgary keeper by rising to head a ball that Glasnovic thought he would catch. The attempt missed the top left corner by a yard.

Calgary nearly scored in the next minute when a cross led to a shot that the sliding Cullen saved, but the rebound was drop-passed for a shot up the middle. Cullen was caught out of position, but Edwards had run in to cover and hammered the ball sideways over the touch line to save a goal.

Halftime: Seattle 0 - 1 Calgary

The second half saw Sounders forward Darren Sawatzky come on for Viet Nguyen, who had a knee problem. The Sounders would outshoot the Storm 21-4 in the half, but wouldn't net enough.

Sawatzky had the first good chance in the half, beating a defender to head a floater from 10 yards, missing the top corner by a couple yards.

In the 53rd Gillespie had a chance to recreate his earlier goal, but his 15-yard shot from the left missed the far post.

55' Zuniga (PK). Sean Fraser carried the ball deep into the left side of the penalty area with two defenders pressuring, and what might have been a fair tackle was ruled unfair by referee Ryan Keck, who pointed to the spot. Zuniga put his PK to the left as Cullen guessed the other way. 0-2 Calgary.

Then the chilly downpour began and continued for the rest of the match. Fraser beat the offside line to go in against Cullen with two defenders chasing, and Cullen slid out for a fine save.

Seattle shot often, but didn't net one until the 90th minute. Smith found his way through the middle for an 8-yarder that was saved, and the rebound shot was deflected out for a corner. Sawatzky's short drop pass gave Bengard a chance from the top of the arc, but over the bar it went. O'Brien broke through for a 15-yarder from the right, but Glasnovic had it covered at the near post. O'Brien's long free kick to the far side was volleyed at the near post by Edwards, saved by Glasnovic. When O'Brien was knocked down near the top left corner of the area, Gregor had a chance with a 20-yard free kick, but Glasnovic easily saved overhead.

90' Smith (O'Brien). On a far-post run for O'Brien's corner kick from the left, Smith rose and headed it in. 1-2 Calgary.

Seattle had one good chance in added time as Edwards' header from in close was saved by Glasnovic and knocked wide for a corner.

Final: Seattle 1 - 2 Calgary

Statistics:
         Seattle  Calgary
Shots:      31        9
Saves:       2        9
Corners:    11        0
Fouls:      13       15
Offsides:    3        6

Misconduct:
22' SEA - Callahan sent off for a two-footed, cleats-up, retaliatory challenge.
43' SEA - Gregor cautioned for dissent for complaining when he was called offside.
54' CAL - Bachelu cautioned.
77' CAL - Richards cautioned.
82' CAL - Korthius cautioned for kicking Gregor's foot from behind at the circle.
90' SEA - O'Brien cautioned.

Referees: Ryan Keck; David Simon, Jason Panos; Mike Fox.
Attendance: 2,525 (disappointingly low)