2004 Apr 10

Preseason match:
Seattle Sounders  0 - 0  Vancouver Whitecaps
Civic Stadium, Bellingham, WA

Seattle: Preston Burpo; Billy Sleeth, Ryan Edwards, Marco Velez, Zach Scott (Scott Jenkins 45'); Viet Nguyen (Jake Vaughn 57'), Jason Farrell (Kei Kinoshita 60'), Chad Brown, Sean-Michael Callahan; Craig Tomlinson (Kyle Smith 45'), Darren Sawatzky (Jimmy Stark 57').

Vancouver: Alex Marques; Chris Franks, Mark Williams, Thompson, Clarke; Nick Dasovic, Hearme (Gomez 66), Steve Kindel (Alfredo Valente 62), Johnny Sulentic; Carlo Corazzin, Jason Jordan .

Additional match report: Bellingham Herald
Match pics: soundercentral.com

Match report (posted to the Sounders discussion site at soundercentral.com) by Heather Johnson:

First, when we arrived, geekily early, the kid and I were thrilled that there was a free program to peruse before the game. But then we discovered it had numerous typos (do kids get to make mead at summer camp?) and was essentially only a roster list accompanied by a bunch of ads. But it still served as a fine thing to write game notes upon. The Sounders roster was arranged mostly alphabetically within positions, and the Whitecaps (who hadn't provided numbers) were arranged alphabetically by first name. For future reference, I vote for numerical arrangement. When we get a program off the ground, I also vote for columns to keep track of shots, goals, and saves, like the old NASL programs.

The starting lineups were: Sea (in order of position): Burpo, Sleeth, Edwards, Velez, Scott, Farrell, Nguyen, Brown, Callahan, Tomlinson, Sawatzky; Van (in no particular order after goalkeeper): Marques, Corazzin, Chris Franks, Jordan, Clarke, Sulentic, Thomson, Williams, Dasovic, Kindel, Herme (?Kevin?, not listed on the roster). Vancouver had little, tiny numbers on the fronts of their uniforms, so it was really hard to tell who was who. And I didn't really care about many of them, so I didn't actually pay all that much attention. So there. How's that for factual?

First half cards went to Sleeth (9th minute) and Edwards (23rd minute). It took the Sounders 15 or 20 minutes to gel, so it seemed early on that Vancouver was dominating, but they didn't actually do all that much. In this period I was easily distracted by the well-nourished U-8 ball girl who was completely unimpressed by her proximity to the game and players, the backfiring green van with exhaust and possible tranny issues, and the older couple who were greatly offended by the pushing and shoving and the very loud discouraging word uttered by one of the Vancouver players.

The second half was more intense, including more of that awful pushing and shoving. It was also harder to keep track of who was who for Vancouver. An announcement of the halftime changes would have been helpful, but the pressbox was further away than we, so they were probably even more hampered by those stupid, little, miniscule numbers. She says judgmentally. Seattle started the half with Burpo, Jenkins, Edwards, Velez, Farrell, Nguyen, Brown, Callahan, Smith and Sawatzky. The only Vancouver players I could positively identify at the start of the first half were Marques, Corrazzin, Dasovic, Herme, Sulentic, and Kindel, but they did have 11 guys out there, despite my lack of observational prowess. I figured out that Craveiro was in there when he took a shot in extra time. Valente subbed in for Kindel, and Gomez (?another one not on the roster list) came in for Herme for Vancouver. Vaughn and Stark replaced Nguyen and Sawatzky, respectively, in the 57th minute, Kinoshita came in for Farrell in the 62nd minute, and Purcell came in after Sleeth's ejection. His ejection, to my mind, was an overreaction (although most of the others were more or less fair calls). He and some Vancouver guy who's number I couldn't read and didn't get called for anything, both slid in from different directions, kinda sorta for the ball, and kinda sorta slid into each other. From the other side of the field where we were it didn't really look all that bad. Within about a minute of coming in Purcell took a shot that bounced off the inside of the goalbar, and if we were in charge, the kid and I would have counted it as a goal (and he tends to give the goalkeeper, no matter which team, the benefit of the doubt), but it would seem that we were not in charge. And we were on the other end of the field, to be fair.

Cards went to Morris (V, 55th minute), ? (V, also in the 55th minute, but not the same event), Sleeth (red, 69:59), and Brown (89th minute).

Match report from the Sounders:

The Seattle Sounders battled the Vancouver Whitecaps to a 0-0 draw in an exhibition match at Civic Stadium in Bellingham, WA on Saturday night.

The first fifteen minutes of the half were rather benign, featuring more fouls than scoring chances.

The Whitecaps' best chance came off their only corner kick of the half. Jonny Sulentic bent a beautiful ball to the left foot of Jason Jordan in the 24th minute. Jordan's volley attempt ping-ponged off several legs before the Sounders keeper, Preston Burpo, corralled the loose ball just off his goal line.

The Sounders' first scoring opportunity came in the 29th minute off a Sean-Michael Callahan corner kick. Marco Velez, up from his center back position, leaped over the Whitecaps' Mark Williams and headed a shot just over the crossbar.

Five minutes later, forward Darren Sawatzky nearly put the Sounders on the board. Receiving a Callahan cross, Sawatzky cracked a 16-yard volley just over the outstretched hands of Whitecaps keeper Alex Marques.

Both teams ended the first half with several offensive bursts.

Jason Farrell made an aggressive run deep into the Whitecaps defense. After a stealth maneuver around the Whitecaps' Williams, Farrell swung a ball inside the six-yard line. Ryan Edwards hit a solid header that just went wide.

Sulentic blasted a Jordan cross toward Burpo in the 42nd minute. Equal to the task, Burpo secured the 0-0 draw entering the intermission.

The Sounders ended the half with seven shots to Vancouver's six.

Vancouver came out strong to start the 2nd half. Jason Jordan received a pass just inside the eighteen and hit a right-footed bomb right into the chest of Burpo.

Sounders substitute Shawn Percell played a nice give and go with another 2nd half sub, Kyle Smith. Smith gave a no-look back pass to a streaking Percell who hit a slicing shot off the right post in the 72nd minute.

Burpo made his best save of the game in the first 10 seconds of added time. Whitecaps sub Alfredo Valente sent a corner into the 6-yard box. Carlos Corazzin sent a redirected attempt toward Burpo who made a diving save.

The final 30 seconds featured another Whitecaps flurry. A centering attempt landed on the foot of Sulentic who had an open goal in front of him. His right-footed volley sailed high over Burpo's net as the final whistle blew, ending the game in a 0-0 draw.