2004 Jul 7

Goals:
39' SEA - Sakuda (Bolaños)

Seattle: Preston Burpo; Danny Jackson, Ryan Edwards, Marco Velez; Kevin Sakuda, Jason Farrell, Sean-Michael Callahan (Scott Jenkins 73'), Jonathan Bolaños (Zach Scott 90'), Viet Nguyen (Ben Somoza 73'); Welton, Roger Levesque. Substitutes not used: Danny Waltman, Darren Sawatzky, Kyle Smith, Craig Tomlinson.

Edmonton: Jose Luis Campi; Chris Handsor, Liam DeSilva, Jaime Lopresti; Paul Dhaliwal, Kurt Bosch (Ibo Mollaibrahimogaoglu 79'), Nikola Vignjevic, Vikram Kaushal (Sipho Sibiya 86'), Gordon Chin; Chris Lemire, Sean Fraser. Substitutes not used: Nick Stankov, Eric Munoz, Chris Devlin, Daniel Drummond.

Additional match reports: Seattle Times, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Sounders.

Match report by Ron Stickney:

The Seattle Sounders got a goal from Kevin Sakuda in his first match of year to beat the visiting Edmonton Aviators 1-0. Preston Burpo and his defenders earned the shutout. Referee Cory Dean pulled his yellow card nine times and issued a red card to each side in the final ten minutes.

Coach Schmetzer started a more offensive lineup than we have been seeing of late. The 3-5-2 included 3 attacking midfielders, Jonathan Bolaños (in his first home appearance), Sean-Michael Callahan and Viet Nguyen. Jason Farrell and Sakuda rounded out the midfield. Midfielder Ben Somoza entered as a substitute for his first A-League action this season.

First Half

Roger Levesque got the attack going in the 8th minute when he got past the defense and came in open and close on the right, but in stead of shooting he passed square to Welton, who was marked too tightly to reach the ball. A minute later Levesque was sprung up the middle and goalkeeper Jose Luis Campi came all the way out the edge of his area to block the shot, and the rebound found its way back to Campi.

Seattle kept up the attack with a Welton cross pulled off Callahan's head by Campi, a quick 20-yarder by Bolaños when a cleared corner kick was sent back in by Callahan, and a 30-yard blast by Jason Farrell aimed right at Campi.

Edmonton would get four shots in the half, but none of them good chances. Danny Jackson, Ryan Edwards and Marco Velez were in fine form on Seattle's back line. Jaime Lopresti did force a save with a 23-yard shot, but Burpo had it covered.

Levesque was sprung with a ball over the top in the 25th and got close to goal, but the Edmonton defense recovered to deny a shot. Bolaños sent a 30-yard free kick to the lower corner in the 33rd, but Campi was right there for the save.

39' Sakuda (Bolaños). The lone goal was one of the best we've seen this year. Edwards was up on the left and crossed to Bolaños at the center of the 18. Bolaños, with his back to goal and leaning into a defender, laid a short pass back to Sakuda, who one-timed a rocket inside the left post.

Halftime: Seattle 1 - 0 Edmonton

Seattle had the first chance in the second half when Levesque stole the ball from a defender just outside the Edmonton penalty area and he shot from 18 yards, but Campi did well in sliding out for the block save and Bolaños hit the rebound well wide for a goal kick.

Then the tide turned in favor of the Aviators, as they controlled the ball well. But the Seattle defense allowed just one good chance during the stretch, a Nikola Vignjevic shot from 30 that deflected off a defender's leg, but Burpo had it covered for the save.

After Farrell bent a 25-yard free kick a yard from the top far corner, he was soon to be sent off.

In the 80th minute Farrell was guilty of shirt-holding an attacker who was trying to round Farrell. Farrell was shown the yellow card for persistent , Farrell's second of the match, and hence the red.

Play had resumed for only a minute or two when Lopresti came in with a high boot on a late try at a ball being cleared by Somoza. Both players went down, but it was Lopresti who got the worst of it from Somoza's cleats on the follow through. Lopresti, who already was in the book with a caution, was given a straight red card, and it evened things up.

Edmonton had a pair of chances after the clock stopped at 90:00. Paul Dhaliwal received a cross and chipped it on goal, but Burpo had an easy save. Last chance was Chris Lemire from the 18 on a corner kick play, but he missed 2 yards high, turned and covered his face with both hands, knowing he should have put it on target.

Final: Seattle 1 - 0 Edmonton

Statistics:
         Seattle  Edmonton
Shots:       8        9
Saves:       3        4
Corners:     2        4
Fouls:      16       13
Offsides:    6        0

Misconduct:
17' SEA - Farrell cautioned for a foul at the halfway line.
29' SEA - Welton cautioned.
40' EDM - Handsor cautioned.
50' SEA - Jackson cautioned for tripping.
71' EDM - Lopresti cautioned for sliding under Levesque at the halfway line.
73' EDM - Bosch cautioned for fouling Bolaños.
81' SEA - Farrell cautioned for holding and sent off for his second caution.
84' EDM - Lopresti sent off for a late challenge to Somoza.
87' EDM - Mollaibrahimogaoglu cautioned for fouling Levesque.
90' EDM - Lemire cautioned for foul language.

Referees: Cory Dean; Mohammed Zarrabi-Kashani, David Rowe; Eric Knudsen.
Attendance: 1,951