2002 May 4

Portland Timbers  0 - 2  Seattle Sounders
PGE Park, Portland, OR

Goals:
11' SEA - Kingsley (Farrell)
38' SEA - Sawatzky (Ching)

Portland: Matt Napoleon; Brent Sancho, Gavin Wilkinson, Scott Benedetti; Keith Costigan, Brian Winters, Sean McAuley, Benji Somoza, Hugo Alcaraz-Cuellar; Chugger Adair, McKinley Tennyson.

Seattle: Preston Burpo; Kieran Barton, Scott Jenkins, Ryan Edwards, Nate Daligcon (Zach Scott 73'); Jason Farrell, Leighton O'Brien, Andrew Gregor, Zach Kingsley (Chad Brown 80'); Darren Sawatzky, Brian Ching.

Portland fan Allison Andrews has a match report from the other perspective, plus excellent pictures.

Match report by Ron Stickney:

The Seattle Sounders started the 2002 season with a 2-0 win away against the Portland Timbers. Rookie Zach Kingsley deflected Jason Farrell's shot in for the first Sounders goal of the season. Kingsley probably got the start because veteran Viet Nguyen sat out the match due to yellow card accumulation from the prior season. Darren Sawatzky added a first-half goal, scoring against his 2001 club. The match doubled as a US Open Cup qualifier, as will tomorrow's rematch between the same teams in Seattle.

Seattle's back four defended reliably to help Preston Burpo notch a shutout, with substitutes Chad Brown and rookie Zach Scott capably helping the defense late in the match.

First Half

Referee Brian Hall asserted control early, showing Portland's Sean McAuley the yellow card in the first minute on the first foul when he pushed down Leighton O'Brien 30 yards from goal.

Portland took the first shot when Keith Costigan crossed for Hugo Alcaraz-Cuellar's header from 15 yards, saved low by Burpo. Seattle came right back with a 15-yard shot up the middle by O'Brien, just wide of the right post.

11' Kingsley (Farrell). Andrew Gregor's corner kick gave Brian Ching a shot that was blocked, then Ryan Edwards' shot from the rebound was blocked, then the third time was a charm as Farrell's low, hard shot may or may not have gone wide of the far post but Kingsley removed all doubt by redirecting it in. 1-0 Seattle.

The Timbers came close a minute later as a header from the spot hit the outside of the right post and was then cleared by a defender. Kieran Barton blocked a close-in shot by Alcaraz. Chugger Adair's header from 12 yards settled on the roof of the net. Rookie Benji Somoza won a loose ball in the middle and fired a 35-yarder just wide of the lower left corner.

For the Sounders, Ching beat a defender on the right to earn a shot from just inside the penalty area, forcing a diving save by Matt Napoleon at the lower near corner.

For Portland, McKinley Tennyson earned a shot from a tough angle on the right but fired into the near side netting.

38' Sawatzky (Ching). Farrell's high ball from his penalty area didn't look dangerous, but Sawatzky in the circle headed it to Ching, who headed it back to Sawatzky, who passed to Ching, who sprung Sawatzky on a sprint up the middle. A feint put Sawatzky to the left around Napoleon, and the striker finished into an empty net before two scrambling defenders arrived. 2 - 0 Seattle.

Halftime: Portland 0 - 2 Seattle

In the first minute of the second half O'Brien nearly increased Seattle's lead with a nice bicycle kick near the spot from a crossed ball. The shot rebounded off the far post into the diving Napoleon, who knocked it out for a corner.

Then it was Portland's momentum as Brian Winters came right back with a 25-yarder that was watched wide of the near post by Burpo. Alcaraz from the right forced a Burpo save. In the 55th minute Alcaraz beat two defenders on an attack from the halfway line and earned a 20-yarder up the middle, and Burpo dove to save at the right post.

Seattle owned the next 28 minutes. O'Brien's cross gave Sawatzky a nice shot up the middle, and Napoleon collapsed nicely with a leg block. Farrell was found open on the left but sent his shot too high. O'Brien's 20-yarder up the middle was a yard wide of the left post.

With 7 minutes left Portland finally found their offense again when Alcaraz' cross gave Chugger Adair a 15-yard shot up the middle, and Burpo dove forward for the save. In the final minute Adair beat Burpo to a cross and headed a shot onto the roof for the second time this match. In added time, a Portland blast up the middle was aimed at the top right corner but Burpo leaped for a fine save, landing with the ball on the goal line outside the post. Burpo seemed to disagree when assistant referee Mac Pinski flagged the ball out for a corner kick, and Burpo earned a yellow card by throwing the ball with emotion towards the corner. The corner kick was defended and the final whistle sounded, giving the Sounders a gratifying start to the 2002 campaign.

Final: Portland 0 - 2 Seattle

Listed as substitutes for Seattle but not playing were goalkeeper Rich Cullen, Craig Tomlinson, Kyle Smith, and rookies David Hernandez and Greg Foisie. Listed as subs on Portland's match day roster were goalkeeper Chris Smith, Vadim Tolstolutsky, ex-Sounders Rees Bettinger, and rookies Noah Delgado and Jake Sagare.

Statistics:
        Portland  Seattle
Shots:     13       14
Saves:      4        4
Corners:    3        8
Fouls:     14       18
Offsides:   5        5

Misconduct:
1' POR - McAuley cautioned for knocking O'Brien down 30 yards from goal.
28' SEA - Kingsley cautioned for a foul left of his penalty area.
45' SEA - Sawatzky cautioned for kicking Costigan in retaliation after a Costigan foul.
60' SEA - Gregor cautioned for exaggerating a foul near the halfway line.
90' SEA - Burpo cautioned for throwing the ball towards the corner when the assistant referee called a corner kick.

Referee: Brian Hall; Mohammed Zarrabi-Kashani, Mac Pinski; David Simon.
Attendance: 8,775