Dave Morris about to make a break down the right side

(Captions shaded in gray mean the photo can be clicked to bring up a much larger version on the photo)

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The Seattle Sounders and Vancouver Whitecaps had the privilege of opening up Seahawks Stadium on Sunday night, and the A-League record crowd of 25,515 did not go home disappointed as the Sounders got two goals from Andrew Gregor to lead them to a 4-1 win over the visiting Vancouver Whitecaps. Leighton O'Brien and Viet Nguyen had the other Sounders goals while David Morris had the lone Whitecaps goal. Brian Ching added two assists for the home side.

Though the Sounders would control the ball for much of the first half, it was the Whitecaps who had the first good opportunity when David Morris took advantage of a Sounders defensive mistake, and was open briefly at the top of the box, but this shot went wide right.

Each team managed to get the ball down into the attacking third a few times over the next fifteen minutes of play, but no shots were put on net. In the 23rd minute, Seattle's Darren Sawatzky made a run down the right side and made a low cross towards the far post, but his cross was too wide to threaten the net, and too far ahead of a charging Brian Ching to give the forward a chance to tap it in. But shortly afterwards, there was another Sounders attack down the right side, this time by Ching, and his cross to the 6 yard box found Andrew Gregor having beaten Vancouver defender Jeff Clarke, and Gregor redirected the ball off his knee and past charging Whitecaps goalkeeper Alex Marques and into the net, and the Sounders had taken a 1-0 lead.

Andrew Gregor taps the ball past a charging Alex Marques

Each goalkeeper had to make sprawling saves over the next few minutes, the first by Seattle's Preston Burpo on a shot from Alfredo Valente, the next by Marques on a low shot by Leighton O'Brien.

The fans start the first wave at the new stadium

In the 34th minute, Vancouver's Niall Thompson was open briefly near the top of the box, but his shot was right into Burpo's chest. In the next minute, Ching found himself almost completely alone at the top of the Whitecaps box, but he had more time than he thought he did, and hit a hurried shot wide right. In the 39th minute, the Sounders put the ball into the box on a throw-in from the side, and Seattle's Scott Jenkins received the pass inside the box, and was challenged by Geordie Lyall and was taken down from the contact, and referee Sandy Hunt pointed at the spot, much to the disagreement of the Vancouver defenders. O'Brien stepped up and buried the penalty into the right side of the net, freezing Marques on the shot, and the Sounders were up 2-0.

Before the end of the half, a pass from Sawatzky into the run of Gregor had the Seattle midfielder hitting a shot towards the far post that was tipped wide by Marques, a save that was not seen by the refereeing crew who awarded a goal kick on the play. Morris had a good chance inside the Seattle box but couldn't control the ball enough to put the ball on net, and instead put the ball harmlessly over the net, and at halftime the Sounders were up 2-0.

The Whitecaps were looking to apply a little more pressure at the start of the second half, and their aggression was not paying off in shots on goal at first, but it also wasn't allowing Seattle to develop any kind of attack. But the Whitecaps made their pressure pay off in the 56th minute when they forced a corner kick, and the ball from Clarke found Morris unmarked at the near post, and he headed it in towards the center of the goal, but far enough off the near post to elude Burpo and the defender who were guarding the near post, and suddenly it was a 2-1 game.

Leighton O'Brien scores on the penalty kick

Andrew Gregor gets a yellow makes a hard challenge

In the 69th minute the Sounders finally got a few shots on goal, first on a Gregor shot from 20 that was right at Marques, the second a minute later when Sawatzky dropped the ball to Ching, who forced a diving save from Marques. In the 71st minute, the Whitecaps came very close to leveling the score when a Tiarnan King cross towards Morris was deflected in the box by Gregor, and the Seattle midfielder nearly put it into his own net, forcing a scramble by Burpo to keep it out.

On the counterattack, Ching ended up on a run down the right side, and he was forced to wait with no attackers in the box with him, and he dropped the ball to Nguyen, whose trap went into Gregor's run, and Gregor buried the ball into the far side netting to give the Sounder the bonus point, and a 3-1 lead.

Darren Sawatzky gets a yellow for a stray elbow

In the 78th minute, Sawatzky pushed the ball into the Vancouver box, but stumbled while trying to cut back and the ball went to Ching, who took what appeared to be a shot destined to go wide to the right, but Nguyen was in position near the 6 yard box, and redirected the ball into the center of the net, and the Sounders had widened their lead to 4-1.

Dave Morris heads in the Jeff Clarke cross

In the 89th minute, a long through ball into the run had second-half Seattle substitute Craig Tomlinson chasing the ball to the top of the box, where he and Marques go to the ball at the same time, sending Tomlinson tumbling as he attempted to jump off to the left to avoid the sliding Marques. Hunt once again pointed to the spot, but this time it was Kieran Barton taking the penalty, and his shot was saved as Marques guessed correctly, and Morris beat all of the Sounders to the free ball, clearing it harmlessly over the end line. Seattle had one more good chance when a free kick bounced back out to Chad Brown, who hit a low, hard shot towards the far post that was deflected up and over the post by a Vancouver boot, and the match would end shortly afterwards with the home side securing a convincing 4-1 win.

Former Sounders were honored at halftime

Whitecaps and Sounders fans support their side

Allison Andrews - Copyright 2002