2011 May 9

Sounders FC Reserves start strong, but have to hang on at the end for the win

Seattle Sounders FC Reserves  3 - 2  Chivas USA Reserves
Starfire Sports Stadium, Tukwila, WA

Goals:
22' CHV: Chris Cortez
25' SEA: Mike Fucito (Nate Jaqua, David Estrada)
52' SEA: Lamar Neagle (PK)
60' SEA: Miguel Montaņo (Pat Noonan)

69' CHV: Chris Cortez (Bryan de la Fuente)

Seattle: Terry Boss; Zach Scott, Taylor Graham, Tyson Wahl (Kevin Sakuda 46'), Michael Tetteh; Lamar Neagle, Michael Seamon, David Estrada, Miguel Montaņo; Mike Fucito (Sinisa Ubiparipovic 63'), Nate Jaqua (Pat Noonan 46').
Substitutes not used: Josh Ford, Taylor Mueller.

Chivas: Sergio Arias; Bryan de la Fuente, Ian Hines-Ike, Michael Umaņa, Michael Lahoud; Chris Rodriguez, Francisco Mendoza, Mariano Trujillo, Gerson Mayen; Chris Cortez, Victor Estupiņan.
Substitutes not used: Kevin Guppy, Arthur Aghasyan, Edson Lemus, Pedro Velazquez, Danny Castro.


Match report from Ron Stickney:

The Seattle Sounders FC Reserves got the Reserve League win over the visiting Chivas USA Reserves, but made the job harder than it needed to be by missing multiple early, golden chances and then giving up a horrible goal on a goalkeeper error. Chris Cortez scored the early gift goal and a late, outstanding goal for Chivas. In between those, Seattle's goals came from Mike Fucito, Lamar Neagle on a penalty kick, and Miguel Montaņo on a great effort.

The 6th minute saw Seattle's first good chances when Neagle hustled on the right side to send in a nice cross to the open head of the charging Fucito, who headed the shot hard off the crossbar. The rebound went right to the charging Nate Jaqua, also very open, and he volleyed his shot just wide.

Chivas came right back with a good chance when Victor Estupiņan was fed forward for a chance from the arc, and he missed the available lower corner by a yard.

A poor clearance from the Chivas defense gifted Jaqua with an open volley from the 18, but he sent it well over the bar. At 11' Fucito got his next chance from a long pass from left back Michael Tetteh and missed by two yards. David Estrada was sprung up the middle, but goalkeeper Sergio Arias hustled out to stuff the shot at the spot. Zach Scott's cross was headed just wide by Fucito, then off the resulting goal kick Fucito was gifted with a turnover and missed the lower far post by an inch. Sixteen minutes into the match, and it could easily have been 3-0. Then came the stunner.

22' CHV: Cortez. Seattle had a goal kick and Terry Boss intended to send an easy pass to Tetteh at the left touch line. Only Boss didn't notice Cortez, who easily claimed the gift ball at the corner of the penalty area, said thank you, and powered a shot in off Boss' reaching hand. 1-0 Chivas. (Note to the coach: Have Boss tested for red-green color blindness.)

25' SEA: Fucito (Jaqua, Estrada). This time Seattle converted the good chance. Estrada was served to the right with an acre of space to work in. He had time to set up the cross from near the end line and sent it over the crowd past goal, where Jaqua headed it down in front to Fucito's feet. Fucito one-touched it into the lower far corner. 1-1, and Boss suddenly started feeling better.

Chivas' Mariano Trujillo had the only good chances in the next 15 minutes. He beat Tetteh with a nice cutback move to fire hard and low on goal, but Boss was well positioned to scoop it up. On a corner kick play, Trujillo beat Scott in the air, which doesn't happen very often, but Scott's pressure was enough to prevent a hard shot and it was an easy save for Boss.

At 43' Jaqua could have had one when Wahl's free kick was put on the charging Jaqua's head nicely, but he failed to aim it down. Jaqua's last chance came when he poked a foot into an attempted clearance by Chivas, and it produced a popup that almost sneaked into the top far corner.

Seattle spent two subs at the half, sending in Pat Noonan for Jaqua and ex-Sounder Kevin Sakuda, from the USL days, for Wahl. Sakuda played right back with Scott shifting to the center.

Seattle again started the half strong. Within two minutes Fucito was sprung close to goal and chipped it by the keeper, just missing the post.

52' SEA: Neagle (PK). Neagle from the right side and goalkeeper Arias both sprinted towards a ball served into the top right corner of the penalty area. Neagle got there slightly ahead of Arias, and Arias slid under Neagle. Referee Josh Wilkins was well positioned to make the in vs. out call, and judged that the foul occurred inside the area, awarding Seattle a penalty kick. Neagle took it and shot hard into the lower left corner while Arias guessed the wrong way. 2-1 Seattle.

60' SEA: Montaņo (Noonan). Fucito from the right found Noonan open at the top of the arc. Noonan kept the ball moving left to Montaņo, who feinted right, pulled the ball back, and burst open with a move towards the end line. His quick shot beat Arias nicely to the lower near corner. 3-1 Seattle.

At 63' Fucito left and on came Sinisa Ubiparipovic, a Bosnian, who played the previous four years for the New York Red Bulls.

At 64' Chivas midfielder Chris Rodriguez was lucky to get the ball from a broken Chivas corner kick play and from 20 yards fired just over the bar.

Montaņo ought to have had a brace when Neagle fed him a cross for a volley four yards in front of goal, but Montaņo somehow shot over the bar.

69' CHV: Cortez (de la Fuente). The final goal would be a candidate for goal of the week if it occurred in a regular MLS match. Bryan de la Fuente curled a beautiful long cross from the left touch line to the penalty spot, where Cortez got way up to head it sharply into the top far corner, giving Boss no chance. 3-2 Seattle.

For Seattle, Ubiparipovic' lone chance came when he headed a corner kick down, but it bounced to Arias for an easy save.

The first scare at the end came at 83' when Trujillo was allowed to sneak in from the left for an unpressured shot from a dozen yards, and Boss made a great save to knock it wide. Then in added time a loose ball in the penalty area found Gerson Mayen for an open, close shot and Boss did well to push it wide. The resultant corner kick play produced a low shot by Cortez to the near side, but it rebounded off the post and the Seattle defense cleared the leftovers.

Statistics:
          SEA  CHV
Shots:     16   14
Saves:      6    2
Corners:    5    9
Fouls:      6   15
Offsides:   9    4

Misconduct:
76' SEA: Scott cautioned
78' CHV: Mendoza cautioned

Referees: Josh Wilkins; William Niccolls, Jeremy Hanson; Timon Berry

Attendance: 920