Tonight's match pitted the Virginia Beach Mariners (1-7-4) against the Seattle Sounders (3-1-2). Virginia Beach was coming off a road trip to the Northwest, where they played Portland, Vancouver, and Seattle for an 0-2-1 result, while Seattle was coming off a 2-0 win against Richmond the night before.
Play started out fairly evenly matched, although the Mariners came up with several very good opporunities in the early minutes of the match. Mariner newcomer John Barry Nusum (M#14) started the pressure in the 5th minute when he took a pass from Jakob Fenger (M#11) and made a one-touch shot that went just wide and the right of the goal!
A couple minutes later would find Darren Caskey (M#8) taking a free kick, which Nusum headed just wide and to the left! A scene which would nearly repeat itself in the 16th minute when Caskey again took a free kick and this time Fenger headed the ball right at the Keeper.
The Mariners were not the only ones to get some good shot opportunities, though, as Seattle would have some too. One such opportunity would come in the 18th minute when a cross came to a Seattle player who was set up in front of the goal, but headed the ball wide and to the right. Another good opportunity came in the 30th minute when Seattle had a free kick, which Taylor Graham (S#26) headed backwards toward the goal! Thankfully, Nelson was able to deflect it out.
The first half would end on one last scoring opportunity for the Mariners, as Nusum would push the ball up the field and play it up to Castellanos (M#31) near the net, but Castellanos didn't quite manage to get to the ball in time, letting it roll across the end line while time was blown.
The real question of the match was yet to come. The Mariners have been losing most of their games and giving up most of their goals it would seem in the first 15 minutes of the second half. Would tonight be the same?
Well, in a word? Yes. Two minutes into the second half would find Seattle's Roger Levesque (S#18) in a one-v-one with Matt Nelson (M#1). Nelson came out to challenge, but Levesque was able to put it around him and into the net. Goal for Seattle.
Just a couple short minutes later, though, in the 49th minute, we would feel like we were at a hockey match! Mariner Darren Caskey committed a minor foul on Seattle's CJ Klaas. Well, Klaas came up right in Caskey's face and pretty much cold-cocked him right in the face. Initially, the ref handed him a yellow card, much to our disbelief. After conferring with the side judge, however, the red card came out and Klaas was sent off the pitch.
One would think that the Mariners would have a distinct advantage, playing up a man for almost half the match, however it was not to be. Seattle continued pressing hard and the Mariners teamwork seemed to have fallen to pieces. One good moment came in the 53rd minute, however, when just about the entire stadium would be fooled as a Mariner took a shot from in front of the goal that would loft up and fall into the net just BEHIND the bar!!!!! So close!!!!
Another close call would come in the 65th minute when Dave Castellanos (M#31) would take a close in shot that would force Seattle's Keeper, Preston Burpo (S#23) to make a great save.
A couple minutes later at the other end of the field would see a heart stopper for the Mariners faithful as Matt Nelson misplayed the ball right in front of the goal! Luckily, he recovered it.
Not so luckily, however, came a play in the 73rd minute. The ball was being played on the far side of the field, but those of us in the stands knew we were in trouble when Seattle's Franklin Chacon (S#11) was standing on the near side, wide open. None of the Mariners were covering him! And when the ball came across, a Mariner got a foot on it, only to deflect it to an almost perfect pass to Chacon! A Mariner defender came charging over, but that freed up Roger Levesque to receive the pass and once more, play 1-v-1 with Matt Nelson. This time, Nelson actually got a hand on the ball and had stopped it, but failed to pull it in. Levesque picked up the free ball and sank it into the net for his second goal of the night.
The Mariners came back hard after this, but it would be too little too late.
A series of shots, such as O'Neill's hard shot just over the bar in the 78th minute and then Caskey's shot in the 80th minute that was deflected and then bounced around the box only to be played out, did not produce any results.
Seattle staged one more offensive attack in the 90th minute, with Kevin Sakuda (S#15) sending a ball over the goal.
It would be the Mariners however, with the final score in stoppage time as a ball got played into the box and in the ensuing volleys, the ball would find it's way into Burpo's hands....INSIDE the net! The linesman made the call and goooooaaaaaallllll Mariners!
The match would go on to end a couple minutes later at 2-1 in Seattle's favour.
Thoughts on the Match:
- Nusum showed some good promise early in the match, although we saw a lot less of him later in the match.
- Teamwork by the Mariners was abysmal - especially in the second half. To not be able to find a man open when you're playing a man up is hard to conceive. Someone HAS to be open.
The Mariner's next match will be at home against Atlanta on Friday, June 24th. Hopefully in the next couple weeks, the Mariners can work a little on that passing game and try to iron out the kinks so we can get a home win on TV!!! Hope to see everyone there!
-Ken
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Game Statistics:
VB Mariners: Nelson, Danbusky, Knott, Morelli (T hompson 79), Caskey, O'Neil, Fenger (Amani-Dove 75), Shak, Castellanos (Ukah 70), Myers (Nolz 56), and Nusum
Seattle Sounders: Jenkins, Klaas, Edwards, Sleeth, Sakuda, Levesque, Melo (Whitfield 54), Somoza (Hansen 87), Burpo, Graham, and Sagar (Chacon 68)
Yellow Cards:
VB: O'Neill 82
Red Cards:
SS: Klaas 49
Goals:
VB: Ukah [Nolz] 90
SS: Levesque [Klaas] 47, Levesque [Chacon] 73
Announced Attendance: 1061
Referees: Tony Crush, Scott Johnson, Shaun Papperman, Clive Edwards
