Seattle Pitch - Seattle

May 10, 1997

Seattle Sounders 4 - 0 New Orleans Riverboat Gamblers



Hoggan (S) 27

Aunger (S) 63

Adair (S) 67

Hoggan (S) 78

Seattle:  Hudock, James, McNeil, Watson, Stoddard, Jenkins, Hoggan (Crothers 80),

Aunger, Amusu (Earl 62), Gailey, Adair (Enneking 75).

New Orleans:  Mooney, Restrepo (Camarena 85), Edwards, Rocke, Brown (Owens 76),

Smotherman (Benjamin 61), Gentile (Rebuck 73), DeOliviera (Hansen 82), Blanchard,

Trotman, Wellington.

Cautions: Adair (S) 20; Gentile (NO) 41.

Shots: Seattle 18, New Orleans 13
Saves: Hudock 6, Mooney 5
Corners: Seattle 5, New Orleans 6
Offside: Seattle 10, New Orleans 2
Fouls: Seattle 16, New Orleans 10

Referee: Frank Gorlock
Attendance: 2,503

The New Orleans Riverboat Gamblers came to the Pacific Northwest having shut out their opponents in each of their first three games. Then last Wednesday they were blasted 4-0 by the Vancouver 86ers. Tonight, it was deja vu all over again for the Gamblers as the Seattle Sounders handed them another 4-0 loss. Veteran David Hoggan opened the scoring with a goal from a direct free kick and closed it with a header, sandwiching a spectacular flying header goal by Canadian Geoff Aunger and an equally spectacular bicycle kick goal by young Chugger Adair.

On a very pleasant spring evening, the visiting Riverboat Gamblers got off to the better start. At 6' Seattle goalkeeper Dusty Hudock had to save a New Orleans shot deflected by sweeper Bernie James that might have been called an own goal if it had gone in. At 14' a New Orleans corner kick was sent on the ground towards midfield and Colin Rocke
blasted a shot that curled the wrong way and just missed the top left corner.

Seattle had not earned a single shot when they were granted a free kick 26 yards out and a bit to the left in the 27th minute. David Hoggan bent the ball beautifully over the wall and inside the left post.

Pedro Amusu, a Nigerian forward signed by the Sounders in the preseason and unable to play until tonight due to a lack of paperwork from the Nigerian Football Association, started as one of three forwards for the Sounders and showed his skills late in the first half when Adair flicked on a ball to the overlapping Amusu. Pedro drew the defense and crossed perfectly to the far post for Mike Gailey's flying header. New Orleans keeper Kevin Mooney recovered well and dove to push the shot past the post for a corner kick.

In the final minute of the first half, Adair's header from a Hoggan corner kick looked promising but was pulled in by Mooney, diving back towards the far post.

At the half, New Orleans had outshot Seattle 6-4 and caught the Sounders in the offside trap 6 times.

Seattle started slowly in the second half. At 56' Hudock came out to punch away a corner kick, but the ball fell for Jamie Wellington to take a shot at an open net over a charging Sounder. Wellington couldn t get enough top spin on the ball and it sailed harmlessly over the bar.

Then all of the gears meshed for Seattle and New Orleans faced a game's worth of shots in a 20 minute stretch. Adair was sprung for a breakaway with a pair of defenders pressuring him. His attempt to chip the keeper was just wide of the far post. Amusu's header from a Gailey cross was barely wide right.

Gailey's next cross, from the right, was finished by a flying, electrifying Aunger header at 63' to put the Sounders up 2-0. The Sounders kept up the blitzkrieg. Dion Earl, who had just come on for Amusu, saw the keeper off his line and took a long shot from the left that went over the keeper and just missed the top right corner. A minute later, Hoggan's 30-yard blast was on goal but caught by Mooney.

At 67' the ball refused to leave the New Orleans penalty area and was finally crossed by defender Bryan McNiel to Adair, whose amazing bicycle kick beat Mooney and gave Seattle a comfortable 3-0 lead. And the Sounders continued the barrage. Hoggan sent Gailey free on the left, but Gailey's shot hit the wrong side of the near post and went out. Adair's header directly from a throw-in was only a foot over the bar. Gailey tried to finish a ball that had been rattling around in the New Orleans area, but Mooney dove to push the shot out for a corner.

At 78' Mike Enneking, who had just come on for Adair, crossed perfectly to the near post from the right corner and Hoggan sprinted in to finish it with a powerful header just inside the near post. Up 4-0, the Sounders rested, having peppered the Gamblers' goal with 14 shots in the second half.

In the dying minutes New Orleans tried to bring home at least one goal from their road trip. Substitute Glenn Benjamin's shot at 88' from a Mickey Trotman cross was well saved by Hudock. In the final minute substitute defender Miguel Camerena headed a corner kick toward the far post but Hudock was again equal to the challenge to preserve the
shutout.

Seattle's next game, the first of four on the road, is May 16 at the Nashville Metros. The next home game is Sunday, June 1, when the El Paso Patriots visit Seattle. Then on June 4 the MLS San Jose Clash visit for an exhibition game, featuring ex-Sounders Dominic Kinnear and Shawn Medved.