A-LEAGUE PLAYOFF GAME SUMMARY
Seattle Sounders vs. Milwaukee Rampage
Sunday, September 17, 2000- 7:00 pm
Seattle, WA, Seattle Memorial Stadium- Attendance- 1,952
Weather- Clear, 62 degrees
Game Summary:
The Seattle Sounders were defeated by the Milwaukee Rampage, 2-1, in the second game of the second round of the A-League playoffs Sunday night at Seattle Memorial Stadium before 1,952 people. The lost eliminates Seattle from the playoffs and was the first at home this season. Seattle lost both games in the two-game series. Midfielder Brian Loftin scored the game-winning goal tonight in second-half injury time.
The Sounders owned the majority of possession but struggled to find the back of the net. They out shot the Rampage 27 to 14, including three shots that struck the woodwork. The Sounders applied relentless pressure late in the game but the Rampage ended their hopes of a comeback when Brian Loftin tallied the game winner in extra time.
The opening goal of the match came in the 10th minute when Seattle forward Greg Howes chested down a goal kick from Milwaukee goalkeeper Dan Popik. Howes first touch went long but fortunately took an errant bounce off Rampage defender Chris Jahr and Howes was able to regain control and found himself one on one with Popik. He wasted little time quickly slotting a shot from 12 yards out into the right corner of the net to put the Sounders ahead.
SEA- 1 MIL- 0
The Rampage equalized in the 34th minute with a goal by Yuri Lavrinenko. Milwaukee forward Todd Dusosky headed a ball back out to midfielder Lavrinenko, who then blasted a volley from 24 yards out that took a deflection off a group of players and into the back of the net. The deflection left goalkeper Preston Burpo going the wrong direction and with very little opportunity of making the save.
SEA- 1 MIL- 1
Milwaukee's Brian Loftin's goal in injury time iced the victory for the Rampage. Loftin took a pass from Digital Takawira at the corner of the 18-yard box, turned to face his defender and proceeded to drill a shot into the upper left corner beating Burpo. Loftin's shot was from 22 yards out.
SEA- 1 MIL- 2
Game Noteables:
SEA- lose in the second round of the playoffs for the fourth straight season.
SEA- Erik Storkson returned to the lineup for the since July 15th
SEA- defender Bernie James is retiring at the end of the season after playing 22 years of professional soccer
MIL- Advances to the Western Conference Final where they will play the Minnesota Thunder in a best of two series.
Post Game Quotes:
Sounders Head Coach Neil Megson
That was a tough way to go out. But I have no complaints about our performance. The guys played hard. It has to be my most enjoyable season of coaching yet. We were picked to win nothing, and picked to go nowhere, but we were able to do some things this year.
Sounders Midfielder Sean Henderson
I'm disappointed, I thought we did enough to win. But sometimes you're just unlucky. Tonight we had some scoring opportunities and even hit the post two or three times. Tonight we didn't beat ourselves with mistakes like we did in Milwaukee.
Rampage Forward Digital Takawira
They (Seattle) played better in Milwaukee then they did tonight here in Seattle. They actually play a better game on grass, they don't do as much of the long passes down the field. We know that coming to Seattle it's a smaller field and its easier to defend. Seattle relies a lot on long balls, which they didn't do that well tonight. We actually play better against long ball teams.
Seattle- (5-2-3) GK- Burpo, D- Waibel, D- Utush, D- Barton (Storkson- 74), D- Henderson, D- Jenkins M- Gregor, M- Nguyen, F- Sawatzky, F- Howes F- Tomlinson (Capadanno- 51)
Reserves- did not play- GK- Burpo, D- James, M- Kinoshita, F- Farnsworth
Milwaukee- (5-3-2) GK- Popik, D- Bernal, D- Timbers, D- Soso, D- Jahr, D- Provan, M- Loftin, M- William, M- Lavrinenko (Russell- 75), F- Dusosky (Houser- 63), F- Takawira
Reserves- did not play- GK- Marshall, F- Dzilic, M- Tirschman
Stats:
Seattle Milwaukee
Shots 27 14
Saves 5 7
Fouls 20 11
Offsides 6 5
Corners 4 3
Cautions 3 3
Scoring Summary:
SEA- 10 Howes (Unassisted)
MIL- 34 Lawrinenko (Dusosky)
MIL- 90 Loftin (Takawira)
Cautions:
SEA- 39 Utush (Foul)
MIL- 54 Dusosky (Delay of game)
SEA- 57 Waibel (Reckless Foul)
SEA- 68 Nguyen (Dangerous Foul)
MIL- 82 Provan (Reckless Foul)
MIL- 90 Popik (Delay of Game)
Referee: Kari Seitz, Asst. Ref.: Mohammed Zarrabi-Kashani, Asst. Ref.: Mac Pinski, Fourth Official: Mike Fox
Attendance: 1,952
