Sebastien Le Toux paced the Seattle Sounders to a 4-1 victory over the USASA’s Banat Arsenal. Nathan Knox opened the scoring for Seattle with a goal nine minutes in, after a pass from Leighton O’Brien. Knox looked like he scored in the opening minute, but the goal was disallowed due to a foul on Seattle. Banat came right back and tied the game at one in the 18th minute. Maurice Hughes scored from a cross by Ty Hibbert to give the Phoenix amateurs hope early on.
After the goal, it was all Sounders, as Banat were not allowed a shot the rest of the half. Sebastien Le Toux then struck twice in four minutes. In the 32nd minute, Le Toux took a diagonal pass from Roger Levesque at the right end of the goal arc, and beat Banat goalkeeper Chris Rehfuss for a 2-1 lead. Four minutes later, when Greg Howes sent a short cross to Le Toux from inside the penalty area, who buried it for a 3-1 Sounders lead. Howes himself finished the scoring in the match just before half time, taking a cross from Knox to put the game out of reach.
Seattle move on to face Northwest rivals Portland on June 26 at the Starfire Sports Complex in Tukwila, Wash.
Scoring Summary
Seattle:
(SEA) Nathan Knox (Leighton O’Brien) 9’
(BAN) Maurice Hughes (Ty Hibbert) 18’
(SEA) Sebastien Le Toux (Roger Levesque) 32
(SEA) Sebastien Le Toux (Gregory Howes) 36’
(SEA) Gregory Howes (Nathan Knox) 44’
Seattle Sounders: Chris Eylander; Danny Jackson, Jake Besagno, Zach Scott (Santa Maria Rivera 71’); Kevin Sakuda, Leighton O’Brien (Kenji Treschuk 35’), Greg Howes, Roger Levesque (Andre Schmid 56’), Josh Gardner; Sebastien Le Toux (Craig Tomlinson 45’), Nathan Knox.
Banat Arsenal: Chris Rehfuss; Cory Norris (Brad Moore 75’), Frank Clay, Nick Tiggs, Elliot Weber; Ryan Lockhart (Imad Id-Deen 53’), Jaimie Miranda (Alan Watson 45’), Maurice Hughes, David Hopkinson (Brett Parry 45’); Esteban Bayona, Ty Hibbert.
Shots: SEA 21, BAN 6
Saves: SEA 3, BAN 5
Corners: SEA 6, BAN 0
Fouls: SEA 23, BAN 21
Offsides: SEA 5, BAN 1
Cautions: (BAN) Lockhart 19’, (SEA) Scott 34’, (BAN) Id-Deen 88’