Vancouver Letdown

The Final from Pitch #2 at Starfire:  Sounders 1:3 Vancouver.

A hearty thanks to everyone who came out tonight; it was a long, emotional day for all of us.  From the 4 and 5am wake-ups to beat traffic & make it up to the AC & scream your lungs out for our USMNT during a 91-minute tease that would be crowned with eternal jubilation.  It will be a morning we never forget.  Unfortunately, the evening will be one easy to remove from memory.

The Vancouver side showed its quality early with some beautiful combinations, led by star striker Jodi-Ann Robinson and sure-footed midfielder Sophie Schmidt.  It led to forward Amy Vermeulen netting off a rebound in the 7th minute.

As our backline settled down and the midfield began to gain some form, a free kick from 30yds out was awarded to Vancouver.  Dangerous, certainly, but nothing our girls couldn't handle.  The players in the box jostled for position, Sounder defender Beth Drollinger was held by a Whitecap forward Melissa Tancredi, as Drollinger broke free, the whistle was blown and a PK was awarded to the Whitecaps.  ...Shocking, really, it was simply not deserved; physical play should be expected at this level and a foul was not committed by either side.  It was a sad decision by a referee who clearly did not have his best night tonight.

Vermeulen slotted the PK home for her second tally of the night and our ladies, down 2, had a very large hill to climb.

The pace of the match was mainly dictated by Vancouver, but our ladies mounted increasingly dangerous chances as the final hour progressed.

In the 80th minute, Vancouver closed the door with a beautiful strike from Kara Lang, who entered the game as a sub early in the second half.

Our ladies fought on and created their best chances of the match during the final 10 minutes.  Midfielder Jocelyn Charette found the net when she slammed the ball past Whitecap keeper Siobhan (Shavon) Chamberlain after a mad scramble in front of the net.

The English keeper in green had a good night; saving the desperate and dangerous attacks from our ladies heading toward the final whistle.

All-in-all it was a disappointing affair.  That bogus PK made things incredibly difficult for our ladies against a side with as much quality as Vancouver's.

Friday, our girls do battle with the Pali Blues in search of 3pts and a share of the second spot atop the Western Conference.  Come on out again and bring a friend; ONLY THREE REGULAR SEASON HOME GAMES REMAINING!

See you in the Terraces!

OSU Recap, Mini-Apple Cups, & TV

OSU RECAP
As a spectator, a 0:3 drubbing rarely leaves you with much positive thought. That being said, there was a lot to take from the match Sunday.

For one, our ladies created a lot of solid opportunities. Headers flew just inches over the bar and there were several shots on target, saved by the very capable OSU keeper.

Center-mid Tafara Pulse agreed with a positive outlook on the match, "Overall, we had some good possession, we had a couple good chances that we didn't finish. We just need to continue to work on our patience."

Oregon State brought their traditional physical game, a characteristic not foreign to the Sounders ladies with Pac-10 experience. It was great to see the girls' battle back against some rough play and loose officiating. Rather than flop & dive, our girls adapted to the situation and continued to attack and battle through some tough challenges.

Our girls got out of the battle with only some minor injuries. The most notable coming early in the second half when Outside Back Beth Drollinger left the game with an unknown injury. After some tending to by the training staff, she sat the remainder of the game but seemed to be in good spirits. I'll dig for an update on her condition.

Thursday night's matchup with the Huskies of Montlake will likely be another physical affair. The Huskies are wrapping up a Spring season that opened with a drab scoreless draw at home against SPU. That was a rather shocking result, considering the Huskies were coming off a competitive second round of the NCAA Tournament where they only fell after a competitive battle against the home-side and national powerhouse Portland Pilots.

MINI-APPLE CUPS:
There are a pair of Cougs roaming the Sounders Side who will have a spring in their step Thursday. Forward Brooke Bemis & keeper Katie Hultin. Hultin loves heated, physical games and can't wait for this matchup.

Former Sounder and Coug Defender, Niki (Ironside) Bonnell had this to say about facing the Dawgs as a Coug Alum:

"This is our Apple Cup. Anytime you get to face the Huskies, whether you're wearing the Crimson & Grey or Blue & White, you get up for the match. It's always going to be more meaningful; the rivalry runs deep inside of you. Elbows tend to swing a bit higher and the tackles are a bit more aggressive. It is always a really fun game."

TV:
The game will also be aired on Comcast On-Demand. Whether you can make it to Starfire Thursday night or not, be sure to check out the game on Comcast. Decent viewership will certainly lead to more televised games and will only be another step toward bringing Seattle a WPS side.