2005 May 11

Friendly:
Seattle Sounders  1 - 0  Real Salt Lake
Qwest Field, Seattle, WA

Seattle: Preston Burpo; Taylor Graham, Zach Scott, Gabe Sturm, Ryan Edwards (Jake Besagno 65'); Kevin Sakuda, CJ Klaas, Scott Jenkins (Josh Hansen 76'), Brent Whitfield (Ben Somoza 60'); Roger Levesque (Brett Wiesner 75'), Welton (Franklin Chacon 68'). Substitute not used: James Ward.

Salt Lake: Jay Nolly; Seth Trembly, Matt Behncke, Brian Dunseth (Mike Lookingland 46'), Sergio Flores; Evan Whitfield (Luke Kreamalmeyer 46'), Ken Cutler (Nik Besagno 46'), Leighton O'Brien, Chris Brown (Kevin Novak 46'); Dipsy Selolwane, Jordan Cila (Jamie Watson 46'). Substitutes not used: Noah Palmer, Jason Kreis.

Goals:
66' SEA - J Besagno (Klaas)

Additional match reports: Bremerton Sun, Seattle P-I, Seattle Times, Sounders.

Match report by Ron Stickney:

In a friendly that featured the professional debuts of brothers Nik Besagno (Real Salt Lake, MLS) and Jacob Besagno (Seattle Sounders, USL 1st Div), the host Sounders won the match 1-0 on Jacob's second-half goal. Jacob accomplished the improbable feat of scoring on his first touch on the ball as a professional.

The Sounders roster is loaded with rookies this year, and in the second half they all played except backup goalkeeper James Ward. Besides J Besagno, seeing their first minutes as pros were forwards Josh Hansen and Franklin Chacon. Seeing his second plus minute as a pro was forward Brett Wiesner. Getting the start were rookies Gabe Sturm, CJ Klaas and Brent Whitfield, and the Sounders finished with 6 rookies on the pitch.

Salt Lake gave many of their most well-known starters the day off and gave at least 45 minutes to rookies Jay Nolly, Ken Cutler, Sergio Flores, Nik Besagno, Luke Kreamalmeyer, Mike Lookingland, Kevin Novak, and Jamie Watson.

Starting in Salt Lake's midfield was ex-Sounder Leighton O'Brien, who earned a spot on Salt Lake's roster in the preseason.

First Half

Salt Lake controlled the first 10 minutes, with decent chances for Seth Trembly, Dipsy Selolwane and Chris Brown, only the latter forcing a save by Preston Burpo.

Seattle's first shot came in the 11th when CJ Klaas shot back a cleared corner kick but he skied it.

After a long stretch with no chances either way, the Sounders suddenly did everything but score in a 4-minute stretch at the half-hour mark. Welton sprung B Whitfield into the penalty area and got the return pass, which was knocked away from Welton but right to B Whitfield for a hard blast that was reaction-saved by Jay Nolly. Then it was Welton and Nolly racing for a through ball and Nolly stuffing Welton's shot from 17 yards, and the rebound went to a wide open Roger Levesque just outside the 18 and all he had to do was chip it over fallen defender Matt Behncke into the empty net, but Levesque hit the defender's arm squarely. B Whitfield was sprung again and got within 10 yards of the right post and might have shot, but he instead crossed the ball with no Sounder close enough to win it. Kevin Sakuda was next, dribbling through defenders deep into the area where his attempted cross deflected on goal and was saved by Nolly with a dive.

After weathering Seattle's flurry, Salt Lake had the next ten minutes. Jordan Cila hammered Chris Brown's cross but was a yard wide of the top near corner. Selolwane took a quick shot from 20 and just missed the lower far corner. Brown got in deep for a cross that produced a shot by Selolwane with plenty of open goal available, but a defender blocked it. From the top left corner of the penalty area, Trembly shot well at the lower far corner and Burpo did well with a diving save.

Last chance of the half was Seattle's, as B Whitfield was again sprung on the right and got in close, but he again crossed to nobody when a shot would have been the better alternative.

Halftime: Seattle 0-0 Salt Lake

Salt Lake made all of their substitutions at intermission, bringing on 5 rookies. Seattle would sprinkle in their 5 substitutes over the next 20 minutes.

N Besagno promptly got his first stat when he slid under Ryan Edwards and was shown the yellow card. Klaas missed the top far corner with the resulting 25-yard free kick. From a corner kick, 6'4" sweeper Taylor Graham's near-post header was snapped on goal but block-saved by Nolly.

For Salt Lake, Selolwane worked in close on the right and got a lucky deflection for a good shot, but Burpo's reaction save slapped it away for a corner. From the corner, N Besagno headed it just wide of the far post.

66' J Besagno (Klaas). Klaas' long free kick from in front of the Salt Lake bench was an outswinger that cleared the crowd in front of goal. J Besagno lost sight of the ball but tracked towards the far post where he thought the ball would end up and it found his head. Besagno later said he thought he headed it in cleanly, but the replay on the big screen showed that the ball deflected down from head to knee, then in. Either way, it put a bulge in the net. J Besagno had entered the match for Edwards while the free kick was being set up, so the goal came from Besagno's first touch on the ball as a pro, before he had played 5 seconds. 1-0 Seattle.

Salt Lake nearly replied 4 minutes later when O'Brien's long free kick from in front of the Sounders bench went over the crowd and was short-crossed nicely by Novak from the end line to the center of the 6-yard line, and Watson's shot forced another reaction save by Burpo, who then dove on the short rebound.

For Seattle, Wiesner was on just a couple of minutes when his well-timed run put him open on the left with only Nolly to beat, but Nolly came out to cut down the angle and did well to make the block save.

Salt Lake pressured in the final 10 minutes, but couldn't manage an equalizer. Watson got the jump on left back Sturm to get in close on the right, but Sturm caught up to tackle fairly, leaving Watson on the ground. From a free kick, N Besagno fired a point blank header and Burpo made another fine save, parrying the ball and then collecting it. Selolwane got in close on the right, but his cross into the goal area went to a defender who cleared the ball from danger.

2 minutes of added time gave Salt Lake one more good opportunity when Watson was sprung past a wrong-footed Sturm and went in yards clear on the right for a 15-yard shot with Burpo charging out, but the shot cleared the bar by a yard leaving Watson dissapointed with himself.

Final: Seattle 1-0 Salt Lake

Statistics:
          Seattle  Salt Lake
Shots:      10        13
Saves:       5         6
Corners:     5         2
Fouls:      20        18
Offsides:    8         3

Misconduct:
45' SL - E Whitfield cautioned for jumping onto Welton's back and not promptly untangling
50' SL - N Besagno cautioned for sliding under Edwards
69' SEA - Graham cautioned for a foul at the halfway line
87' SL - Behncke cautioned for chopping down Wiesner
88' SEA - Hansen cautioned for knocking Kreamalmeyer down from behind
90' SEA - Wiesner cautioned for delaying a Salt Lake free kick

Referees: Shahram Pourazari; Brian Armes, Josh Wilkens; Jeff Hosking

Attendance: 1,279