Sounders FC Draw Battle Lines – Well, Remove Them Actually

The perfect (plastic) pitch?

Sounders FC say they will get out out their toothbrushes and scrub all night before a match if that is what is takes to get NFL gridball lines off of their Qwest Field Field Turf pitch. Or something like that.

Steve Clare talks with SSFC's Bart Wiley about their good intentions in this new article.

“One of our main objectives when we sent the MLS preferred dates for scheduling was to make sure that we could play without football lines," Wiley tells Clare. "We preached all along from day one we want to maintain the integrity and the purity of the game. We’ve done our best to do everything top notch at the best level and we want to make sure that there are no football lines on the field – to sell what we’ve been selling so far, whether they be seasoned veterans of soccer or just learning the game,. We don’t want them to see anything that resembles American Football on the field and we’re going to kill ourselves to make sure there are no football lines on the field."

Talk about Qwest Field's pitch in the GS Forums.

Sounders FC Registers Over 350 Hopefuls for Saturday Tryouts

Sounders FC Registers Over 350 Hopefuls for Saturday Tryouts

WHO: 350 potential Sounders FC players (24 prospects will travel to Seattle from outside and 16 U.S. states will be represented).

WHAT: Sounders FC staff will oversee the three-hour tryouts. The field will be narrowed in the first hour through a series of speed and fitness drills followed by skills tests and mini-games.

WHEN: Saturday, November 15 from 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. Registration starts at 9 a.m.

WHERE: Starfire Sports Complex

14800 Starfire Way

Tukwila, WA 98188

www.starfiresports.com

The tryout on Saturday is the second of three tryouts during the month of November.

The open tryouts will be filmed for a reality based television show which will be televised on BELO properties, including: KING 5, KONG 6/16 and NWCN in late January of 2009. A minimum of three finalists from each market will take part in a televised one-hour tryout in Seattle.

The final tryout will be broadcast on Sunday, February 1, 2009, following Super Bowl XLIII on KING 5. Viewers will have the opportunity to narrow the finalists to three. A distinguished panel of judges will determine the winner. The winner will be awarded a spot on the 2009 Sounders FC roster.

To register or more information visit www.soundersfc.com.

Around the Sound of Soccer for November 13th

The Youth Media Institute in Seattle produced this soccer PSA.

It continues to amaze me that there is enough (pro) off-season soccer news in the Puget Sound area to run and have frequent content on three area blogs. Just this week Tacoma Tide FC published another player update and then issued a new 'toolbar' for supporters to use on their web browsers as a way of supporting the club.

Over in West Sound Kitsap Soccer Club will reveal their name, crest and club colors on Monday November 17th. GOALKitsap.com got a sneak peek at the colors and updated its look.


Seattle, HQ for the "Sound of Soccer," continues to churn out the news. Sounders FC held their first open tryouts in Spokane last weekend. This week the MLS club announced they will be debuting their new uniforms at a benefit fashion show on December 4th. The club website also took a look back at the first year of developing SSFC, and visited with GM Adrian Hanauer.

Beyond the pros, the college seasons are heading towards their playoffs. The Seattle Pacific Women and Western Washington Women will be in Seattle (Interbay) for the West Regionals the 13th-15th.

The Washington Women will be in Texas this Friday to play LSU in the NCAA's.

In North Sound, Matt Pele was named GNAC Player of the Year for Western Washington's Men, and Viking head coach Travis Connell was awarded Coach of the Year honors.

In South Sound the UPS Loggers Women earned a bye into the playoffs and will host a match this Sunday.

Seattle the first to bolt from "Cascadia"

PDX is 'for the birds,' according to Seattle & Vancouver supporters.

Steve Clare writes an exclusive story for GOALSeattle.com about the Cascadia Derby between Seattle, Vancouver and Portland.

Seattle has become the first city in the derby triad to move on to Major League Soccer. Since Sounders FC were announced in November of 2007 both Vancouver and Portland have expressed a desire to join Seattle at the highest level. Those desires took tangible form when both the Timbers and Whitecaps officially submitted expansion bids to MLS a few weeks ago. Visit MLSinVancouver.com and MLStoPortland.com for more information.

Clare talked with Timbers' supporter Shawn Levy about the rivalry:

Needless to say the reaction to the Sounders elevation to the Major League is not being met with unadulterated glee in the Rose City. Shawn Levy is a Portland journalist for the Oregonian and also a respected ‘Elder’ in the Timbers Army, the largest and most influential of the Portland Timbers supporters groups. He looks at the upward mobility of Seattle’s soccer club with a degree of nostalgia mixed in with understandable bitterness. “The Pacific Northwest derby -- Portland, Seattle, Vancouver -- dates back three decades and is easily the most heated in Anglo-American soccer, so one feels a twinge of pain in seeing one of the three teams promoted, in effect, to a higher level and bringing a portion of that history to an end. It's a bit disheartening, too, that it should be the team that has enjoyed the biggest success on the pitch and the *least* support from its hometown fans. Seattle ponied up the money before Portland and Vancouver could get their financial ducks in order; good on 'em.”

Read Steve Clare's entire Cascadia Derby story here.

Read about the Cascadia Cup here.

A Timbers supporters covers up a Ljungberg poster...

Happy Birthday, Seattle Sounders FC

Can you believe a year has passed since Major League Soccer awarded a team to Seattle?

November 12, 2007 Drew Carey showed up at The George and Dragon pub to tell fans he was about to become a part-owner in Seattle MLS. The next day, November 13, 2007, MLS officially announced Seattle as a 2009 expansion club high above the Seattle city streets in the Columbia Tower.

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Grade the Sounders on their first year of preparation for MLS in this poll at the GS forums.

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A lot has happened since then, and you can reflect or catch up here.

2007 was a great year for the Sounders and for Seattle soccer supporters. The USL Sounders won nearly everything in sight, and then to top it off we were given the prize of a bright future in MLS. I wrote this at the end of my 2007 yearly review:

"Finally on Friday November 9th the Seattle Times ran a story confirming that Major League Soccer would be holding a press conference the following Tuesday November 13th to announce that Seattle would be joining MLS. Fans arrived a day early on November 12th at The George and Dragon Pub to see comedian Drew Carey get the ball rolling and announce his minority ownership in the new club.

The official press conference the next day was watched by thousands of fans live over the internet. Seattle MLS would play at Qwest Field starting in 2009. It would have a dynamic ownership group of Hollywood movie mogul Joe Roth, Microsoft billionaire Paul Allen, local soccer champion Adrian Hanauer and funny man Drew Carey. After a wait lasting over a decade long Seattle soccer was going "up."

As 2007 wound to a close longtime Sounders fans were left to ponder the most amazing season in club history as well as the future of the club and the club name. The MLS press conference had revealed that the "Seattle Sounders" would play one final season in the USL-1 in 2008. The name "Sounders" could move with the club to the Kitsap Peninsula, fold with the club, or be adopted by Seattle MLS. Meanwhile the new MLS club had already sold over 10,000 season ticket deposits in its first month."

Redhawks win finale, will play in Mountain Pacific in 2009

Kyle Peterman scored in his 3rd straight match for Seattle U.
(SU photo)

(From GoSeattleU.com) FRESNO, Calif. – Four different players scored goals for the Seattle University men’s soccer team as it concluded the 2008 campaign with a 4-2 victory over Fresno Pacific Monday afternoon at Ramirez Field.

The game-winning goal came almost six minutes into the second half, as Kyle Peterman (Boise, Idaho) slipped a shot past Fresno Pacific goalie Tim Nightingale to give Seattle University a 3-2 lead. Peterman scored his team-leading seventh goal of the season, earning a goal in three straight matches and five of the last seven contests for the Redhawks. Seattle University had dominated the action after halftime, as Peterman took a shot and Sean Morris (Bothell, Wash.) had two solid chances turned away before Peterman’s goal.

Seattle University added an insurance goal in the 84^th minute as Marshall Kosaka (Burien, Wash.) beat his defender and sent a rocket shot past Nightingale for his second goal of the season. Kosaka’s goal came after Fresno Pacific had two corner kick chances, but a header shot by Valentin Gonzalez went high and a scoring attempt by Vitor Machado, who scored the first goal of the match, was stopped by Seattle goalie Jordan Jennings (Tacoma, Wash.).

Down 1-0 midway through the first half, Mutanda Kwesele (Seattle, Wash.) sent a crossing pass into the box from the right side, and Andrew Kreiter (Billings, Mont.) redirected the ball into the net on one touch to tie the match. Less than a minute later, the Sunbirds regained the lead as Seattle University committed a foul in the box, leading to a penalty kick goal by Daniel Spieth.

With just over three minutes remaining before halftime, Morris sent a free kick to the right side of the box, where Jake Ellig (Richland, Wash.) was stationed on the play. Ellig converted on his scoring chance for his first goal of the season, while Morris picked up his third assist of the year. Seattle University was able to go into halftime tied 2-2 despite being outshot by the Sunbirds, 12-3.

Jennings made six saves in earning his fifth victory of the season, while Nightingale was credited with four saves for Fresno Pacific (9-7-1). With the victory, Seattle University ends the 2008 season on a five-match winning streak, four of those victories coming on the road.

Seattle University concludes the season with an 11-3-1 record, the eighth straight season with a winning record for the program. The team started off its transition to Division I by defeating Cleveland State and North Florida for the UC Irvine College Classic title, swept through a trip to Florida with victories over Florida Gulf Coast and Florida Atlantic, and posted dramatic road victories over Portland and Cal State Bakersfield.

Four of the top five scorers from this season (Kyle Peterman, Ian Walsh, Wesley Van Hooser, Sean Morris) are eligible to return next season, as are starting defenders Will Banchero, Derek Rogalsky, and Demaci Roussos and goalie Emerson DeOliveira. Along with Cal State Bakersfield, the Seattle University men’s soccer program will join the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation in 2009, competing against Denver, New Mexico, San Jose State, UNLV, Sacramento State, and Air Force.

More college news: The Seattle Pacific Women, ranked 4th in NCAA II, will host regional playoff matches this weekend. The Western Washington Vikings will also be in Seattle for this same regional.

Kitsap Soccer Club announced November 17th

The day for officially announcing the birth of the Kitsap Soccer Club through United Soccer League offices is set for Monday, November 17th.

Read the scoop in our GOALKitsap blog!

College Round-up: Husky Women finish strong, Western sweeps GNAC

SEATTLE - Despite playing the final 50 minutes a player down and the entire match without its head coach, the Washington Huskies used goals by junior Veronica Perez and freshman Kate Deines, and held off a late rally by Arizona, to win their final regular-season match, 2-1, Sunday at Husky Soccer Field.

UW finishes the regular-season on a six-game unbeaten streak, improving to 14-5-1 overall and 5-3-1 in Pac-10 play, and finishing tied for the third in the Pac-10. The 14 wins mark UW's third-highest win total in school history and mark its most victories in a season since earning 17 in 2004. UW will find out its postseason fate on Monday at 5 p.m., but are almost assured its first postseason berth since 2004. Read the entire match recap here.

BERKELEY, Calif. - After going up 1-0, Washington gave up two unanswered goals including the gamewinner in the 88th minute, falling to No. 14/25 California, 2-1, in Pac-10 men's soccer action at Edwards Stadium, Sunday afternoon.

Cal senior midfielder Pat Marion netted the gamewinning score with just two minutes remaining in regulation to lift the Golden Bears to the victory. The Huskies had been playing the final 54 minutes a man down after junior defender Casey Cunningham was issued a red card in the 36th minute, an ejection that occurred after Cal came back to tie the score 1-1.

UW freshman forward Dylan Tucker-Gangnes gave the Huskies an early lead in the 26th minute with his third goal of the season, only to have that answered by Cal sophomore forward Andrew Wiedeman nine minutes later.

The loss was the second-straight and third in the last four games for Washington, which fell to 8-7-2 overall and 3-4-2 in Pac-10 play. Cal improved to 9-3-5 and 4-2-3 in league action. UW now sits in fourth place in the conference with one regular season match remaining against Oregon State on Friday. Read the rest from GoHuskies.com here.

SEATTLE - On Senior Day, fourth-year players Megan Price (Federal Way, Wash.) and Kahlyn Keilty-Lucas (Minneapolis, Minn.) figured into the scoring as Seattle University scored three first-half goals on its way to a 3-1 victory over Saint Martin’s in women’s soccer action Sunday afternoon on a muddy Championship Field.

The Seattle University women’s soccer team finishes the 2008 season with a 12-5-3 record, including a 10-5-3 mark against Division I schools, defeating teams from the West Coast Conference, the Western Athletic Conference, the Big Sky Conference, and the Summit League. The top four scorers from this season (Coe, Kuttler, Riozzi, Bloecker) are eligible to return next season, as are three members of the starting defense (Kate Edstrom, Nance Hill, Jordan Salisbury) and Goverde, who played every second of every match in net for the Redhawks in 2008.

BELLINGHAM - The Western men’s soccer team won their second Great Northwest Athletic Conference title in school history.

Thursday with a 6-0 win against Saint Martin’s University at Whatcom Community College’s Orca Field.
Western senior forward Samir Vejo led the Vikings’ attack with three goals as four different players scored in the second half.

“Winning the conference is a massive accomplishment,” Western head coach Travis Connell said. “I am extremely proud and I know the guys are too.”

Western, which was 5-0-1 in its last six games, improved its overall record to 10-5-3 and 6-0-1 within the conference. Read the rest here.

BELLINGHAM -The Western women’s soccer team tied Saint Martin’s University 1-1 on Thursday at Whatcom Community College’s Orca Field.

The tie continues the Vikings' 14-game unbeaten streak.

The last unbeaten streak consisted of 38 games in a row, which took place from 1982 to 1984.

With an overall record of 15-2-2 and 9-0-2 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, the Vikings are ranked 15th in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America/National Collegiate Athletic Association Division II Coaches Poll and first in the Far West Region. Read the rest here.

Sounders still waiting for Sigi Schmid

As the Columbus Crew march along towards a possible MLS Cup Final, Sounders fans and most likely also the front office are torn about taking sides.

In one sense it would be great to have the Crew tumble out in time for Schmid to be hired and get in there for the expansion draft on November 26th.

In another sense, how would it look and sound for Seattle to hire the most-recent MLS Cup-winning coach? Pretty good, I'd think.

I've heard nothing from the rumor mill or the Sounders that can even slightly point towards Schmid as their top choice. It only takes a few dots, when connected, to see how he might be, though.



The dots: Schmid coached Sounders' Technical Director Chris Henderson when he played at UCLA. Schmid is an "LA soccer guy" just like Seattle majority owner Joe Roth, who knows him well. Sigi's wife still lives in LA, and the two now have a 'commuter relationship.' The Sounders are dragging out the head coach naming process, while the Columbus Crew have refused to give Seattle permission to talk to Schmid during the season. Sigi's contract runs out in Columbus at the end of this campaign, and the Crew seem to be hesitant to spend the money it is going to take to re-sign him.

Connect them, and Sigi is pick number one for the Sounders.

Now, the debate becomes whether we should cheer for Columbus to finish #1 in the league or not.

(Note: Paul Mariner's New England Revolution are done, so that rumored candidate is now 'available.' Same for Preki, whose Chivas USA side fell to Real Salt Lake. Update: OK, now Houston are out after Red Bulls upset them, so the season is over for Dominic Kinnear and John Spencer. Not sure about their current contracts.)

College Round-up: Husky Women take overtime win on Perez goal

SEATTLE - Junior Veronica Perez followed up a rebound off her own penalty kick and found the back of the net just 52 seconds into overtime, giving the Washington women's soccer team a 2-1 victory over Arizona State Friday at Husky Soccer Field.

The victory extends UW's unbeaten streak to five games and gives them a 13-5-1 overall record and a 4-3-1 mark in Pac-10 heading into the final regular-season game of the season Sunday. Arizona State falls to 8-7-4 overall and 2-5-1 in conference. Read the entire match report here.

The Washington Men fell 4-2 Friday night at Stanford.

The Seattle University Men won a 3-2 thriller on the road at Cal State Bakersfield. Andrew Kreiter scored his fourth goal of the year with a minute left in overtime to give the Redhawks the victory.

Tacoma Tide FC have posted another update on how players who wear the yellow of TFC during the summer are doing in their college and post-college soccer careers. Read the update here.