2004 May 23

Goals:
24' SEA - Smith (Levesque)
27' SEA - Smith (Nguyen)
40' SEA - Levesque (Farrell)
68' SEA - Levesque (Sleeth)
74' SEA - Welton (Tomlinson)

Seattle: Preston Burpo; Danny Jackson, Scott Jenkins, Marco Velez; Chad Brown (Sean Henderson 72'), Jason Farrell, Robbie Aristodemo (Craig Tomlinson 59'), Billy Sleeth (Ryan Edwards 70'), Viet Nguyen (Darren Sawatzky 59'); Kyle Smith (Welton 46'), Roger Levesque. Substitutes not used: Danny Waltman, Zach Scott.

Calgary: Lutz Pfannenstiel; Mike Pavicic, Jamie Auvigne, Jordan Gillespie (John Castrillon 74'), Conrad Chala (Sergei Kolomiets-Raad 46'); Chris Kooy, Geert Brusselers, Damir Jesic (Steven Frazao 68'), Mesut Mert; Conrad Smith (Nick Zuniga 46'), Zdravko Savic. Substitutes not used: Jamey Glasnovic.

Additional match reports: Seattle Times, Seattle P-I, Sounders. Pod pics from the soundercentral museum.

Match report by Ron Stickney:

The floodgates finally opened for the Seattle Sounders as they beat the Calgary Mustangs 5-0 in Seahawks Stadium. Kyle Smith had the first two goals, Roger Levesque added one in each half, and Welton finished the scoring with his first goal as a Sounder. All of the goals were the result of precision passing and accurate shooting. Preston Burpo made 5 saves to earn the shutout.

First Half

Calgary looked best for the first 10 minutes, forcing Burpo to make three saves from 20 to 30 yard shots up the middle by Geert Brusselers twice and Mesut Mert from a free kick play.

The Sounders finally managed a shot in the 12th minute when a forward pass intended for target man Levesque deflected off the back of his leg to Smith on the run, resulting in a shot from 15 yards that was deflected out by goalkeeper Lutz Pfannenstiel for a corner.

From just outside the penalty area, Calgary's Jordan Gillespie saw Burpo off his line and tried for the bar but shot a yard high.

Then the good chances started for Seattle and stopped for Calgary. Robbie Aristodemo's fine cross to the far post gave Levesque a header from 5 yards with plenty of open goal, but he missed the post by a yard. Levesque would not miss his next couple of chances. Billy Sleeth in the 22nd put Smith into the penalty area with a through ball, and Smith outmuscled his marker for a chance from 10 yards but missed badly high and wide. Smith would not miss his next couple of chances.

24' Smith (Levesque). Smith was sprung again, by Levesque's through ball this time, and Smith had a shot similar to his previous attempt but with less pressure from the defense. This time Smith shot low under Pfannenstiel and found net. 1-0 Seattle.

A minute later Jason Farrell took a 20-yard free kick nicely, bending it around the inside of the wall, forcing Pfannenstiel to travel to make the save.

27' Smith (Nguyen). It was off to the races when Levesque near the circle put a ball into open space on the right for Viet Nguyen to run onto. Nguyen made a nice diagonal pass for Smith on the far post run, and Smith slotted his shot between the close post and the keeper. 2-0 Seattle.

Smith had a couple of tries with his head, going up to head Nguyen's corner kick a yard over the bar and forcing a routine save with a 12-yard header from Farrell's long cross.

40' Levesque (Farrell). Farrell's through ball let Levesque beat the offside trap from a few yards outside the area. Levesque dribbled in alone and from 10 yards put it low past Pfannenstiel. 3-0 Seattle.

Halftime: Seattle 3 - 0 Calgary

The Sounders continued to dominate in the second half. For Calgary, Damir Jesic's 30-yarder was the first shot of the half, but it wasn't close.

In the 59th Aristodemo dropped a nice ball for a Farrell 20-yarder, fired hard but wide of the far post. A Farrell free kick from just outside the left edge of the penalty area was sent in front of sweeper Danny Jackson, up on a surprise run, but the shot was blocked halfway to goal.

68' Levesque (Sleeth). Sleeth got around the defense on the right taking a nice through ball from Welton. Sleeth made it to the bye line, where he sent a nice low pass for Levesque on a near post run. Levesque shot low to the near side. 4-0 Seattle.

74' Welton (Tomlinson). Farrell sent a ball up the left touch line in front of Craig Tomlinson, who was sprinting past the offside line seemingly faster than humanly possible. Tomlinson was into the penalty area so far ahead of everyone else that he had to hold the ball, waiting for the rest of the world to catch up. Then he dribbled at goal and sent a nice pass in front of goal for Welton to run onto for the easy finish. 5-0 Seattle.

Substitute John Castrillon had Calgary's only good shot of the half in the 82nd, a shot from 30 yards that deflected slightly off a defender, but Burpo had no trouble making the save.

The last chance was Farrell's, a 25-yard free kick in the 90th that would have hit the bar if Pfannenstiel had not managed to touch it over for a corner.

Final: Seattle 5 - 0 Calgary

Statistics:
         Seattle  Calgary
Shots:      16       12
Saves:       5        5
Corners:     4        3
Fouls:      22       15
Offsides:    8        1

Misconduct:
23' SEA - Sleeth cautioned for a late trip of Jesic.
37' CAL - Pavicic cautioned for a 2-footed slide into Brown.
39' SEA - Nguyen cautioned for a 2-footed slide into Gillespie.
42' SEA - Velez cautioned for pushing Savic in the air near the circle.

Referees: Ricardo Valenzuela; Eric Knudsen, Josh Wilkins; Mohammed Zarrabi-Kashani.
Attendance: 2,090