2004 Aug 28

Seattle Sounders 1 - 3 Minnesota Thunder
Qwest Field, Seattle, WA

Goals:
7' MIN - Tenoff (Roberts)
39' MIN - Matteo
52' MIN - Tarley (PK)
85' SEA - Sawatzky (Brown)

Seattle: Preston Burpo; Danny Jackson, Marco Velez, Ryan Edwards; Kevin Sakuda, Billy Sleeth (Chad Brown 62'), Jonathan Bolaños (Darren Sawatzky 72'), Sean-Michael Callahan (Viet Nguyen 46'), Ben Somoza; Roger Levesque (Kyle Smith 57'), Welton (Craig Tomlinson 46'). Substitutes not used: Danny Waltman, Scott Jenkins.

Minnesota: Joe Warren (Terry McNelis 86'); Dustin Branan, Chris Brunt, Brian Roberts; Freddy Juarez, Jeff Matteo, Godfrey Tenoff (Marco Ferruzzi 55'), Kevin Friedland, Jay Alberts (Chris Vorenkamp 81'); Melvin Tarley (Johnny Menyongar 65'), Dave Castellanos (Mike Wilson 73'). Substitutes not used: Brent Jacquette, Kiki Lara.

Additional match reports: Seattle Times, Sounders.

Match report by Ron Stickney:

The Seattle Sounders' 5-match winning streak came to a screeching halt as they lost at home to the Minnesota Thunder 3-1. The two sides finished the regular season with Minnesota edging Seattle by a point to take third place in the Western Conference. The Sounders finished in fourth place, holding the tiebreaker over the Milwaukee Wave United in the event that they end up tied in points. The first round of the playoffs in the west will feature Portland-Seattle and Vancouver-Minnesota.

Minnesota cruised to victory this match, scoring on three of their first four shots. Godfrey Tenoff opened the scoring early, Jeff Matteo added a goal late in the first half, and Melvin Tarley converted a penalty kick in the second half to make it 3-0. Darren Sawatzky scored late in the match to spoil Joe Warren's bid for a shutout. This was just the second time Minnesota had won on the road this season.

Returned from the injured list were starters Billy Sleeth, who had been a long time recovering, and Jonathan Bolaños, and second-half starter Viet Nguyen. Zach Scott sat out the match suspended due to yellow cards.

First Half

7' Tenoff (Roberts). From his own half, Brian Roberts sent a long, diagonal pass over the crowd. Tenoff ran around the left side and met the ball at the 18-yard line, heading a shot past goalkeeper Preston Burpo, who had started to come out. It was Minnesota's first shot of the match. 1-0 Minnesota.

Shots were infrequent in the half. Seattle got their best chances from free kicks close to goal. A Jonathan Bolaños free kick past goal was headed just wide by Welton. A Bolaños free kick from the top of the arc was sent two yards over the bar.

39' Matteo. After Marco Velez was whistled for bumping from behind 20 yards from goal, Matteo beat Burpo with a free kick over the wall and into the top far corner. 2-0 Minnesota.

Halftime: Seattle 0 - 2 Minnesota

52'Tarley (PK). On a Minnesota attack, a cross was sent to David Castellanos left of goal. He couldn't keep the ball in, but Burpo slid under him and took him down hard. Referee Richard Heron pointed to the penalty spot and pulled the yellow card for Burpo's rough challenge. Tarley sent the penalty kick to the right side while Burpo guessed the wrong way. 3-0 Minnesota.

Minnesota were content to defend their lead, so Seattle had almost all of the rest of the shots. A Seattle free kick was cleared and sent back in to the goal area for Craig Tomlinson, whose short chip shot went over the bar. A cleared Seattle corner kick was sent back into the area by Nguyen, who spotted Danny Jackson making a run towards goal, and Jackson's low shot from 8 yards was inches wide of the far post. Chad Brown from 20 yards forced Larkin to save at the near post. Kyle Smith from wide right forced a Larkin save at the bar.

A Minnesota corner kick gave Marco Ferruzzi a shot blasted low from the top of the arc, and Burpo collapsed nicely for the save.

85' Sawatzky (Brown). As he was falling at the 18-yard line, Brown tried to shoot at goal but the ball died 8 yards from goal. Dustin Branan could have cleared it but left it for Warren, and Sawatzky seized the moment of indecision and darted between the Thunder players to shoot the sitter past Warren into the corner. The goal was Sawatzky's 30th in his Sounders career. 3-1 Minnesota.

The last good shot was Minnesota's when Johnny Menyongar got open for a 15-yard shot from the left, a line drive but right at Burpo.

Final: Seattle 1 - 3 Minnesota

Statistics:
         Seattle  Minnesota
Shots:      14         7
Saves:       1         7
Corners:     7         5
Fouls:      20        21
Offsides:    1         4

Misconduct:
51' SEA - Burpo cautioned for sliding under Castellanos.
73' MIN - Alberts cautioned.

Referees: Richard Heron; Mohammed Zarrabi-Kashani, Josh Wilkens; Rachel Berg.
Attendance: 4,853