2007 Aug 26

Seattle Sounders  1 - 0  Charleston Battery
Qwest Field, Seattle, WA

Seattle: Chris Eylander; Danny Jackson, Taylor Graham, Zach Scott, Kevin Sakuda; Kenji Treschuk (Noah Merl 88'), Hugo Alcaraz-Cuellar, Josh Gardner (Santa Maria Rivera 41'), Leighton O'Brien; Sebastien Le Toux, Roger Levesque. Substitutes not used: Ben Dragavon, Jake Besagno, Nathan Knox, Greg Howes, Andre Schmid.

Charleston: Keith Wiggans; Kevin Nylen, Tim Karalexis, Brandon Curran, Louie Rolko; Gordon Chin, Chris Corcoran (Lazo Alavanja 45'), Jordan Hughes (Aaron King 72'), Stephen Armstrong; Andre Toussaint, Kenny Uzoigwe (Byron Alvarez 72'). Substitutes not used: Dusty Hudock, Anthony Catalano, Mike Richardson, Mike Todd.

Goals:
43' SEA: Le Toux (Alcaraz-Cuellar)


Additional match reports: Seattle Times, Seattle P-I, GOALSeattle.com, Sounders, Battery.


Match report by Ron Stickney:

The Seattle Sounders regained the league lead with a 1-0 win at home over the Charleston Battery. The lone goal came from Sebastien Le Toux. Chris Eylander earned his 12th shutout of the league season, helped by good defending in front of him.

The match concluded a frustrating Charleston road trip to Cascadia Cup country. They managed to lose 1-0 to each of Portland, Vancouver and Seattle over the past four days.

First Half

There were plenty of shots from Seattle, the first in the 7th minute when Roger Levesque was served the ball deep in the penalty area to lay off a drop pass to Le Toux with goalkeeper Keith Wiggans coming out, but Le Toux's shot missed the open far side by a yard. A minute later Hugo Alcaraz-Cuellar forced the first save of the match on a bouncer from 20 yards. At 14' Le Toux tried from 20 yards and bent it a half yard over the bar.

Charleston's first shot was a 30-yard free kick by Stephen Armstrong in the 16th minute, curled well wide. A minute later a good shot was turned in by Kenny Uzoigwe, a 20-yarder shot hard up the middle between two defenders, but Eylander had it covered.

Midway in the first half Seattle pressured well, first from Le Toux heading on goal and forcing a save after the ball was deflected to the spot by a defender. Leighton O'Brien tried to bend a 20-yarder in with the outside of his right foot, but it went two yards wide.

Charleston's best shot of the evening came from Andre Toussaint in the 30th, when he almost beat Eylander up the middle from 20 yards, but Eylander dove left and stretched to make a fine save.

At 33' O'Brien's corner kick found Taylor Graham's head at the far post, and the shot went two yards wide.

43' SEA: Le Toux (Alcaraz-Cuellar). Alcaraz-Cuellar was open on the right to take a pass and set up his cross, which went low and square about 8 yards from the goal line. Levesque dummied nicely on the near post run, drawing a defender and the goalkeeper. Le Toux was open on the far post run and finished into the open left half of the goal. 1-0 Seattle.

A minute later for Seattle Alcaraz-Cuellar had time for another aimed cross that gave Levesque a chance with a header at the near post, and it went just wide. Soon Levesque had another chance from short range, aimed at the far post and saved onto the post by Wiggans. There was a rebound, and from even shorter range Graham saw his put-back shot blocked.

The final chance of the half was another good shot by Charleston's Toussaint, who got in close on the left side for the shot, but Eylander was there at the post for the block save.

Halftime: Seattle 1 - 0 Charleston

Toussaint kept up the pressure in the second half, early on firing up the middle from the 18 and missing the top far corner by a yard.

Then it was Seattle's turn with a pair from Levesque, first a left-footer from the 18 that missed the top far corner by a yard. Then Graham headed a throw-in over the defense for Levesque to volley a shot from close in, but it missed the far post by an inch.

For Charleston in the 60th, Lazo Alavanja, who had entered at the break, tried a long shot that Eylander easily saved. A few minutes later Uzoigwe got ahead of the defense for a shot from 12 yards on the left, and Eylander turned in a fine save.

After a few more shots from Seattle, the game turned rough at 77' when Charleston's Kevin Nylen was shown the yellow card for an elbow to Kenji Treschuk's head. Just a minute later Charleston went down a man after Gordon Chin was sent off. Chin's sin was kicking Santa Maria Rivera in the back of the leg after first pushing him down. The kick came after the whistle had blown for the foul.

Seattle's Le Toux got through up the middle for a 12-yard try at an insurance goal, and Wiggans did well to save it with a dive. Levesque got a touch on the rebound, but it was deflected out for a corner.

Charleston's last good chance at an equalizer came in the 84th when substitute Aaron King had a good look after a cross from Toussaint, but King curled the shot well wide of the top far corner.

At 90' for Seattle, O'Brien rang the post with a shot from 8 yards and couldn't believe he had missed.

Final: Seattle 1 - 0 Charleston

The win put Seattle back on top of the table, as Portland and Montreal both lost on the same day. The Sounders are a point ahead of Portland with a match in hand, and four points ahead of Montreal, level in matches.

Statistics:
          Seattle   Charleston
Shots:       21        10
Saves:        5         6
Corners:      9         4
Fouls:       14        13
Offsides:     4         1

Misconduct:
13' CHA: Armstrong cautioned for kicking Alcaraz-Cuellar in the ankle
28' CHA: Uziogwe cautioned
59' CHA: Karalexis cautioned
77' CHA: Nylen cautioned for an elbow to Treschuk's head
78' CHA: Chin sent off for kicking Rivera in the back of the leg after pushing him down and after the whistle sounded for the foul

Referees: Jeff Hosking; Josh Wilkins, Kevin O'Daniel; Mark Matthews

Attendance: 4,291