2005
Jun 4 2005
Jun 4
Virginia Beach Mariners 1 - 2 Seattle Sounders
Virginia Beach Sportsplex, Virginia Beach, VA
Virginia Beach: Matt Nelson; Steve Danbuskey, Kevin Knott, Joe Morelli (Justin Thompson 78'), Ptah Myers (Josh Nolz 56'); Darren Caskey, Tim O'Neill, Jakob Fenger (Hamisi Amani-Dove 75'), Steve Shak; David Castellanos (Warren Ukah 70'), John Barry Nusum. Substitutes not used: Dan Benton, Russell Hutchison, Jeff Bilyk.
Seattle: Preston Burpo; Taylor Graham, Ryan Edwards, Scott Jenkins, Billy Sleeth; Kevin Sakuda, CJ Klaas, Jake Sagare (Franklin Chacon 67'), Ben Somoza (James Ward 87'); Roger Levesque, Welton (Brent Whitfield 53'). Substitute not used: Zach Scott.
Goals:
47' SEA - Levesque (Klaas)
73' SEA - Levesque (Chacon)
90' VB - Ukah (Nolz)
Match report from the Sounders:
Roger Levesque scored two second half goals and the Seattle Sounders swept both games of their first road trip of the season by defeating the Virginia Beach Mariners, 2-1, before 1,061 Saturday at the Virginia Beach Sports Complex. The win comes less than 24 hours after the Sounders defeated the Richmond Kickers.
It was a very defensive first 45 minutes with most of the play in the middle third of the field. The Mariners did get an early scoring opportunity when John Barry Nusum pushed a ball just wide of the left post from 18-yards up in the 4th minute.
The Sounders best first half scoring opportunity came in the final minutes. Jake Sagare sent a cross into the 18-yard box off the left side. The ball one hopped to Scott Jenkins who tried to turn into the ball at the top right of the 6-yard box but he could not make contact on the attempted header.
Recharged at halftime, the Sounders worked quickly to score the game's first goal. Kevin Sakuda ran down a loose ball at the mid circle and slipped it ahead to C.J. Klaas. Klaas sprinted forward through the Mariner midfield and pushed the ball ahead to Levesque who split the last two Virginia Beach defenders, drawing out goalkeeper Matt Nelson. Levesque then slid the ball past Nelson at the left post for the 1-0 lead in the 47th minute.
Seattle's lead became shaky when Klaas was issued a straight red card ejection in the 58th minute after retaliating for a hard foul against him by the Mariners Darren Caskey. For his efforts Caskey earned a yellow card but the altercation left the Sounders down a man for the rest of the match.
With Virginia Beach pushing forward they left their back end vulnerable and Seattle capitalized by using the speed of their outside midfielders. Brent Whitfield chased a ball deep down the right side into Mariner territory, racing by two Virginia Beach defenders in the process. He sent the ball back to Ben Somoza who right footed the ball across the field to Franklin Chacon. Chacon juked inside a defender and slipped the ball ahead to Levesque. Levesque's initial shot from 12 yards was knocked down by Mariner 'keeper Nelson but he could not control the rebound and Levesque followed up his own shot with his second goal of the game in the 73rd minute.
Virginia Beach finally ended Preston Burpo's shutout streak when Warren Ukah pounced on a bouncing ball at the left post and scored in stoppage time. Fortunately the goal came with under a minute left in the match and the Sounders were able to run out the remaining seconds.
Tonight's match was a first for two rookie Sounders. James Ward saw action in the last three minutes of the match, recording his first minutes as a professional. In addition, Franklin Chacon recorded his first assisted of the season. Chacon earned his first point as a professional.
On another note, Preston Burpo went 540 minutes without a goal scored against him.
Statistics:
Virginia Beach Seattle
Shots: 15 6
Saves: 2 5
Corners: 2 4
Fouls: 12 12
Offsides: 4 5
Misconduct:
49' VB - Caskey cautioned for fouling Klaas from behind
49' SEA - Klaas sent off for retaliating against Caskey with his forearm
82' VB - O'Neill cautioned
Referees: Tony Crush; Scott Johnson, Shaun Papperman; Clive Edwards
Attendance: 1,061
