2007 Jun 28

Seattle Sounders 1 - 0 Miami FC
Qwest Field, Seattle, WA

Seattle: Chris Eylander; Noah Merl, Zach Scott, Jake Besagno (Andre Schmid 24'); Kenji Treschuk, Kevin Sakuda, Hugo Alcaraz-Cuellar (Gabe Sturm 78'), Josh Gardner, Roger Levesque; Sebastien Le Toux (Adam West 89'), Greg Howes. Substitutes not used: Ben Dragavon, Santa Maria Rivera, Nate Boyden, Craig Tomlinson.

Miami: Pat Hannigan; Stephane Guillame, Cristiano Dias, Chris Williams, Luis Calix (Nico Mosquera 74'); Jean-Jacques Jamil, John Pulido (Sergio Van Kanten 77'), Douglas Gonçalves (Rachid Didouh 82'), Zinho; Eric Vasquez (Sean Fraser 45'), Luchi Gonzalez. Substitutes not used: Kristian Gonzalez, Gerghiny Obas.

Goals:
70' MON: Di Lorenzo (Marcina)

Additional match reports: Seattle Times, Sounders, Impact.

Match report by Ron Stickney:

The host Seattle Sounders could not solve the Montreal Impact defense and lost 1-0 to a second-half goal by Montreal's Leonardo Di Lorenzo. It was Seattle's first league loss since losing 2-0 at Montreal 5 weeks earlier.

Hugo Alcaraz-Cuellar returned to the lineup after missing the past month plus with an injured Achilles tendon.

First Half

Montreal had a good chance early, in the 6th minute, on a corner kick play. Seattle goalkeeper Chris Eylander dove forward to punch away a cross just before it found an attacker in front of goal, and Montreal defender Andre Arango shot the cleared ball on goal from 25 yards before Eylander could recover. Seattle sweeper Noah Merl saved the day on the goal line, kicking the waist-high shot clear from the goal plane.

Seattle had a chance in the 18th when Josh Gardner's free kick from the right side skipped along the ground a few yards out from the far post, but three Sounders were all late with their far-post run and the ball went out for a goal kick.

In the 24th a nice series of passes by Montreal ended with a shot on goal from 15 yards by Matt Palleschi, and Eylander made the diving save but the rebound rolled square through the goal area and the Sounders defense just barely cleared the leftovers in time. Palleschi soon had another chance on a corner kick play, hitting the side netting just wide of the near post from the 18.

Around the half hour mark the Sounders shifted their lineup. Roger Levesque had started as a forward but moved to right mid. Rookie Kenji Treschuk moved from right mid to center mid, and Greg Howes moved from center mid to forward.

Going into added time at the end of the half, Montreal had outshot Seattle 7-0. But just before the whistle Howes got the ball 15 yards from goal, waited for a second, and took Seattle's first shot of the match, a nice shot aimed at the top far corner, and it took the save of the match from Andrew Weber to keep goose eggs on the scoreboard.

Halftime: Seattle 0 - 0 Montreal

The first 15 minutes of the second half went by with no good chances either way, then each side earned a free kick 20 yards from goal. Montreal's was stopped by the Seattle wall, and for Seattle's free kick substitute Leighton O'Brien shot a half yard over the far corner.

Montreal substitute Charles Gbeke received a cross in the 69th for a header near goal, but he looped it onto the roof.

70' MON: Di Lorenzo (Marcina). A cross-field pass in the air went to Alen Marcina to the right of goal, and he headed it back across the goal past the far post. Di Lorenzo was unmarked and headed it in. 1-0 Montreal.

The next good chance was for Zé Roberto from the 18, but he shot right to Eylander.

In the 80th, Seattle substitute Craig Tomlinson from the side of the penalty area fed the ball to O'Brien in the middle for a turn and shoot, but it missed the post by a yard.

For Montreal a minute later, Di Lorenzo tried from the top left corner of the penalty area and missed the lower far corner by a yard.

Seattle pressured Montreal's goal for the final 10 minutes but couldn't score. Jake Besagno was up to earn a header in close from a cross, but couldn't get enough pace on the shot. Levesque earned a header from O'Brien's cross to the far side, but couldn't reach all of the ball and sent it wide. Sebastien Le Toux worked the ball in close on the left, but Weber was there and did well to prevent a good shot. Just before the end Seattle's last chance came with a ball flicked on goal and Weber made a diving save at the lower corner to preserve his shutout.

Final: Seattle 0 - 1 Montreal

Statistics:
          Seattle   Montreal
Shots:        9        12
Saves:        4         3
Corners:      0         8
Fouls:       18        13
Offsides:     1         3

Misconduct:
36' MON: Trembly cautioned
42' SEA: Treschuk cautioned
56' MON: Marcina cautioned
78' MON: Di Lorenzo cautioned

Referees: Mike Rotterman; Will Niccolls, Shahram Pourazari; Scott Lawrence

Attendance: 3,136