September 14, 1997

Seattle Sounders  0 - 0  Vancouver EightySixers (Seattle wins crapshootout)

Seattle: Hudock; James, Jenkins, Barton; Megson (65' Rodriguez), Kinoshita, Gelvezon (78' Fry), Hoggan, Hattrup (46' Storkson); Gutierrez, Gailey.

Vancouver: Shepherd; Franks, Sumner, MacDonald (74' I. Clarke); Skinner, Berg (85' Valentine), Dalrymple, Dailly, Heald; Kindel (65' Jordan), Mobilio.

Cautions: Megson (S), Franks (V), Gutierrez (S), Sumner (V)

Shots: Sea 12, Van 15
Saves: Hudock 3; Shepherd 3
Corners: Sea 9, Van 9
Fouls: Sea 21, Van 23
Offside: Sea 1, Van 0

In the second leg of the A-League playoff quarterfinals, a.k.a the Pacific Division Championship series, the host Seattle Sounders and the Vancouver 86ers played an even game, settling for a scoreless draw. Seattle won the CrapShootout (TM A-League). Under the contrived A-League playoff rules, Seattle's CrapShootout win counts equal to Vancouver's 3-0 win from the first leg of the series, so a 30-minute "mini-game" followed, contested by tired players. A report on that game follows.

First Half

In the 2nd minute, Seattle's Mike Gailey posted up with the ball and dropped it for Kei Kinoshita, whose blasted a shot to the upper right corner. Paul Shepherd did well to push the ball over the bar for a save.

For Vancouver, Craig Dalrymple on the right rolled in what he intended to be a cross, but Dusty Hudock had to save it from finding the far post. Jeff Skinner took a shot from a steep angle on the left, easily saved by Hudock at the near post.

Peter Hattrup won a loose ball 35 yards from Vancouver's goal and passed to Henry Gutierrez, whose shot bent the wrong way, just missing the top right corner.

Midway in the half, Domenic Mobilio's shot from 20 yards on the left curled just left of the near post. For the rest of the half, neither team managed to earn any good shots.

Second Half

The offensive drought continued for the first 30 minutes of the second half. The only notable event was when Mobilio and Steve MacDonald cracked heads trying to finish a free kick in the air. MacDonald got the worst of it, and was soon replaced for the night by Ian Clarke.

For Vancouver, Dalrymple tried a 25-yard low shot from the right, easily saved by Hudock at the near post.

For Seattle, Gailey headed David Hoggan's free kick on goal, but right into Shepherd's bread basket.

Dalrymple's corner kick was punched away by Hudock, and Paul Dailly fired the clearance right back in on goal, forcing a save by Hudock.

Near the end of regulation time, Gailey got his head on a Seattle corner kick, but couldn't get enough of the ball to send it on goal.

Ian Clarke got a chance to head a cross, but sent it wide right. Oliver Heald's last-minute shot was just over the bar.

0-0 after 90 minutes, and anywhere else in the world the series would have gone to Vancouver with a win and a draw. But this being a US league, a 15-minute sudden death overtime was next on the agenda.

Overtime

Seattle had the best of the play in the overtime period, but couldn't find the net. Erik Storkson got a chance with Kieran Barton's long cross, but chested it wide right of the far post.

Mobilio got a head on a long Vancouver free kick, but shot wide right.

After Seattle strung together a series of passes up the field, Chance Fry was open for a cross at the 18, but shot well over the goal.

Dailly bent a Vancouver corner kick around the far post, missing it by a yard, but nobody was there to head it in.

Kinoshita fed Storkson on the left on a counter attack, but Storkson missed badly with his left-footed shot.

Heald's 20-yard shot was punched straight up in the air by Hudock, and when it came down he had company from Vancouver and had to punch it toward the corner.

In the final minute Gutierrez rolled a Seattle corner kick outside the penalty area for Esmundo Rodriguez, but he sent the shot to the sky instead of the goal.

The scoreless draw led next to the CrapShootout, won by Seattle.

CrapShootout

Vancouver                      Seattle
------------                   ------------
Mobilio    0 (shot prevented)  James      1
Heald      0 (blocked)         Hoggan     0 (deflected wide)
Jordan     0 (chest save)      Gutierrez  0 (shot prevented)
Dailly     0 (wide left)       Rodriguez  0 (wide right)
Franks     0 (shot prevented)