May 2, 1997

Orange County Zodiac  1 - 2  Seattle Sounders

Vasquez (OC) 46

Aunger (S) 63 (PK), 72



Shots: Orange County 19, Seattle 19

Saves: Dusty Hudock 6, Mike Gartlan 3

Fouls: Orange County 13, Seattle 14



Attendance: 1,875

The Seattle Sounders maintained their perfect road record with a 1-2 win

at the new-for-1997 Orange County Zodiac.  Geoff Aunger and Mark Watson

were back on the pitch for the Sounders after missing the previous game

to play for Canada against Jamaica.  Aunger resumed his leadership in

the Sounders attack, scoring both goals after Orange County had taken

the lead.



Orange County opened the scoring at the start of the second half when

Jose Vasquez beat goalkeeper Dusty Hudock from 6 yards.



The laws of the game say that if a player denies his opponents a goal by

deliberately handling the ball, he should be sent off the field of play

for serious foul play.  That is what Zodiac defender Jon Bovetas did,

and he was punished to the full extent of the law.  Aunger put the

resultant penalty kick into the lower right corner at 63' to level the

score 1-1.



At 72' the long ball worked for Seattle again when Scott Jenkins sent

one forward to Chugger Adair, who lobbed a pass that Aunger chested,

then volleyed in from 10 yards.



"That is by far the prettiest goal scored by a Sounder in the past three

years," Sounder coach Neil Megson said.  "This is the best we have

played all season.  The team is starting to gel.  If we continue to play

this was, we won't get beaten much this year."



Sounders John Cowmey and Nate Daligcon did not make the road trip and

showed up (on loan) on the roster for the USISL Puget Sound BigFoot's

home opener the same night.  Cowmey, with the BigFoot to get some

playing time, came on as a substitute in the BigFoot game, but Daligcon

was in street clothes, on a rehab assignment and still recovering from

an injury.



Seattle continues their road trip this Sunday, May 4, against the

California Jaguars in a match that pits the 1997 A-League champions

against the 1997 USISL Select League champions.  California is

undefeated this year, having beaten El Paso 2-0 and Vancouver 3-1, both

at home.