Sports stats



Sounders finish pre-season with 6-2 win over UW

April 19, 2007 - USL First Division (USL-1)
Seattle Sounders News Release


The Seattle Sounders wrapped up their preseason schedule Tuesday evening at Husky Field with a 6-2 win over the University of Washington Huskies, behind four goals from Roger Levesque and some timely saves from former Husky goal keeper, Chris Eylander.

In their final tune-up before Saturday's season opener against the Vancouver Whitecaps, the Sounders controlled possession throughout and had a number of excellent scoring opportunities.

The Sounders opened the scoring in the 11th minute. After a Washington foul, a long clearance was flicked right to the feet of Levesque, who calmly slipped it past goalkeeper Rylan Hawkins for the 1-0 lead.

Just six minutes later the Sounders found the back of the net again. After a foul by Husky midfielder George John, player-coach Leighton O'Brien fired a 35-yard free kick past Hawkins off the bottom of the crossbar - former Husky Adam West headed home the rebound to give the Sounders a 2-0 lead over his former squad.

In the 33rd minute, the Sounders extended their lead to three when newly-acquired Hugo Alcaraz-Cuellar beat his defender on the right side and guided a perfect cross to the head of Levesque, who buried a header past Hawkins to the far post. The goal was the most stellar display of offense on the night from the Sounders and Levesque, whose five goals in the last two exhibition matches has shown that he's willing to fight for a spot in the front line despite the teams massive off-season acquisition of offensive talent.

The Huskies got on the board in the 41st minute. Forward Ely Allen intercepted an errand pass back to the goalkeeper by Zach Scott and guided a short shot past Chris Eylander to cut the lead to 3-1.

The Sounders had a number of other scoring chances in the first half. Levesque, O'Brien and Sebastien Le Toux each had close range shots that were either blocked or saved.

In the second half, the Huskies scored first to cut the lead to one. Midfielder Raphael Cox played a through ball to Allen, who found Kevin Forrest, the reigning Pac-10 Player of the Year, who headed it past Eylander to make it 3-2.

Just two minute later on a Sounders corner kick, Hawkins let the ball slip through his fingers right the feet of Levesque. The Sounder's leading scorer from the 2005 season made him pay for the mistake with his third goal of the night.

In the 60th minute, the referee awarded the Sounders a penalty kick. O'Brien's cheekly taken shot from the spot was saved by Hawkins, but O'Brien followed the kick and tapped the rebound home, making the score 5-2.

Levesque capped the scoring with his forth in the 75th minute, when second half substitute Andre Schmid, crossed the ball in front of the net, right to the Stanford alum, who tapped it for the 6-2 lead. Fans can catch all the action of the Sounders opening match of the regular season Saturday Night at 7pm live online with the video broadcast from usllive.com.

The Sounders home opener is May 5th, 7pm at Qwest Field agains their arch rivals, the Portland Timbers.

• Discuss this story on the USL First Division message board...

USL First Division Stories from April 19, 2007


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central