2004 Jun 3

Goals:
16' SEA - Welton (Callahan)

Edmonton: Jose Luis Campi; Liam de Silva, Chris Devlin (Ibrahim Mollaibrahimagaoglu 56'), Claudio Salinas; Rick Titus, Sean Fraser (Desmond Tachi 82'), Nikola Vignjevic, Gordon Chin; Fred Akok, Chris Lemire, Sipho Sibiya (Chris Handsor 46'). Substitutes not used: Eric Munoz, Daniel Drummond, Paul Dhaliwal.

Seattle: Preston Burpo; Danny Jackson, Scott Jenkins, Ryan Edwards, Marco Velez; Chad Brown (Robbie Aristodemo 66'), Sean Henderson, Jason Farrell, Sean-Michael Callahan (Shawn Percell 80'); Welton (Kyle Smith 74'), Roger Levesque. Substitutes not used: Danny Waltman, Viet Nguyen.

Additional match reports: Edmonton Sun, Edmonton fan Sergio Teixeira.

Match report from the Sounders:

The Seattle Sounders scored early then held on to beat the Edmonton Aviators 1-0 in A-League action Thursday at Commonwealth Stadium. The victory earned Seattle a split of their two-match road swing through Alberta and pushed their record back to .500 at 3-1-3. The win was the first of the season for the Sounders away from Seahawks Stadium.

Sounders forward Welton, who had come off the bench to score twice in two Seattle wins, was inserted into the starting lineup, a move that paid off in the 16th minute. Sounders midfielder Sean-Michael Callahan chased a deep ball down the right side, just outside the penalty box. He sent the ball across the penalty area just over the head of teammate Roger Levesque. Welton, in behind Levesque, leaned his head into the ball and skipped it inside the right post past the outstretched arms of Edmonton 'keeper Jose Louis Campi in the 16th minute.

Edmonton came close to tying in the 31st minute when Chris Lemire, avoiding a Chad Brown slide tackle, took the ball deep down the left side, only to have Sounders goalkeeper Preston Burpo knock down his shot at the right post.

The Aviators continued the assault on the Seattle goal early in the second half. Three times within a five minute span they came within inches of tying the match. The best opportunity was a Lemire blast from just inside the penalty area that banged off the left post. The ball ricocheted out to Edmonton's Fred Akok six yards out but his strike went up and over the crossbar. Minutes later Akok got to another ball off a Burpo save but again sent the ball over the bar.

Shawn Percell entered in the 81st minute for his first A-League minutes. He would stay in the stadium after the match to help coach the Sounders Women in the second half of a doubleheader.

Statistics (yeah, we know the shots and saves don't add up right, but we weren't there):
        Edmonton   Seattle
Shots:      10        5
Saves:       5       11
Corners:     8        3
Fouls:      11        9
Offsides:    0        2

Misconduct:
61' SEA - Velez cautioned.
74' SEA - Jackson cautioned for a dive in the Edmonton penalty area.

Referees: M Navarro; D Gantar, C David; F Romano.
Attendance: 3,107