Regular Season Finale Saturday at Qwest Field

September 6, 2006 - USL First Division (USL-1)
Seattle Sounders News Release


(Seattle, Wash) - - The Seattle Sounders face the visiting Charleston Battery on Friday, September 1st at Qwest Field in a match filled with playoff implications. The Sounders currently hold the sixth and final playoff spot with three teams on their heels while Charleston looks to improve their playoff seeding heading down the stretch. On a three game winning streak, the Sounders have played 243 consecutive minutes of shut out soccer.

The Sounders (10-11-4, 34pts) and Charleston Battery (11-8-5, 38pts) have a brief history; this is only the fifth meeting between the two sides. The Sounders are 2-2-0, and have never lost to the Battery at home. The Sounders defeated the Battery 1-0 in their only meeting in Seattle in May of 2005. This season the Sounders are 0-1-0 against Charleston; in their previous encounter on June 8th the Battery defeated the Sounders 2-0 in South Carolina.

With a three game winning streak behind them the Sounders have made a strong push towards the post season. The Sounder defense, consisting of Danny Jackson, Noah Merl, Jake Besagno and goalkeeper Chris Eylander, has held opponents to a single goal over the last three games. Midfielder Andrew Gregor has scored in each of the last two matches as the Sounder offense has outscored opponents 8-1 during the three game span. The Sounders have shutout their last two opponents and have played 243 consecutive minutes of shutout soccer.

The Battery are in a three-way race for second place with Vancouver and Rochester as the season wraps up. Charleston ends the regular season with three of their final four matches on the road and play three of those matches in four days later this week. Battery Goalkeeper Dusty Hudock, a former Sounder, ranks third with a 0.823 goals against average and leads one of the toughest defenses in the league having allowed only 23 goals in Charleston's 24 matches.

The Seattle and Charleston match up pits two of the top teams in their respective categories against one another. Seattle has the USL First Division's second most productive offense, scoring 37 goals in 25 games. Charleston has allowed the third fewest goals this season at 23.

O'BRIEN AND GREGOR OUT FOR CHARLESTON, VANCOUVER WITH TWO-MATCH SUSPENSION

Sounder Midfielders Andrew Gregor and Leighton O'Brien will serve their two-match league imposed suspensions beginning this Friday against Charleston and on September 8th in Vancouver against the Whitecaps. Both Gregor and O'Brien have accumulated eight yellow card cautions this season. O'Brien was whistled for his eighth against the Whitecaps on August 19th. Gregor received his eighth caution against Minnesota last week. Both players will return for the Sounders regular season finale on September 9th at Qwest Field against the Atlanta Silverbacks.



USL First Division Stories from September 6, 2006


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