With the rest of their league-mates falling in defeat last week, the Seattle Sounders were left alone to carry the A-League flag in the 1995 US Open Cup. They not only carried it, but served notice to the remaining three USISL clubs in the Semifinals: you have to go through us to win the Cup.
“The pressure was if we lose, we weren’t supposed to lose,” said the Sounders’ Chance Fry after the game. “We had to treat the game just like we were playing (defending FIFA World Cup champion) Brazil.”
The Sounders wasted no time in getting started, scoring the opening goal 37 seconds into the game. Chance Fry, the Sounders’ second leading scorer on the season, took a shot that was saved and he got his own rebound and tucked it away with a right-footed shot from six yards out.
In the 5th minute, Seattle’s Jason Dunn went down with a broken nose, for the 7th time in his career. Dunn, the A-League’s reigning Rookie of the Year, was eventually subbed off in the 11th minute and taken to a local hospital and replaced by Erik Storkson, but the incident seemed to give the Sounders extra incentive.
It was believed that Dunn was punched by Chico’s Eric Descombes, a standout player who joined the Rooks after playing professionally for Toulouse FC in France.
Seattle’s Wade Webber talked about the situation with the Seattle Times after the match.
“At halftime we were upset at what happened. Jason said he got punched. He (Descombes) told (Seattle player-coach) Bernie James that he punched Jason,” said Webber, a Portland, Ore. native who played for the Portland Timbers and the Seattle Storm before signing with the Sounders. “I hate to say this, but we kind of wanted him. It was sort of a distraction.”
Five minutes before halftime Webber doubled Seattle’s lead by scoring off a corner kick from former Bolton Wanderers player and long-time indoor soccer veteran David Hoggan.
Coming out of halftime Seattle were looking to punish the Rooks, and it was Dunn’s substitute that got the job done. Erik Storkson headed home a pair of Chance Fry passes in the 53rd minute and in the 85th minute.
1995 US Open Cup Preview: The state of American soccer in 1995
1995 USOC Round 1 POTR: Carlos Llamosa
1995 USOC Q-Finals POTR: Ben Crawley
1995 USOC Semis POTR: Jake Arrambide
1995 USOC Final POTR: Jeff Causey
1995 USOC Player of Tourney: Rob Ukrop
1995 US Open Cup Results (click on the score of the game for a match report)
“It felt good,” said Storkson, who is normally a reserve player for Seattle. “I was just playing my type of game. Win the ball in the air.”
Sandwiched in between Strokson’s goals was a 74th minute marker from Shawn Medved, assisted by Wade Webber. It was Medved’s fourth goal of the competition after scoring a hat trick in the club’s lopsided First Round win over the Everett BigFoot (USISL Pro League).
Shortly after the goal that put the Sounders up 4-0, Seattle’s Doug Morrill left the game with an injury, but Sounders head coach Alan Hinton decided not to replace him. Just as they did in Round 1 against the Everett BigFoot, voluntarily played shorthanded for the last 15 minutes of the match. After Erik Storkson added his second goal in stoppage time, the 10-man Sounders would finish with a 5-0 win.
Perhaps Chico’s lone bright spot came in the 71st minute, when goalkeeper Randy Dedini stopped a penalty kick by Peter Hattrup. Dedini, who helped the North Bay Breakers make the USISL Pro League playoffs as a rookie last year, had signed with the Rooks in the offseason. Dedini did his best to keep his team in the game, making 10 saves on the night.
Despite the score, and being outshot 32-20, Rooks head coach Dave Stahl still felt his team played well.
“We came out in the second half and had several opportunities to score a goal,” Stahl told the Chico Enterprise-Record. “We just didn’t convert them. We had opportunities right up to the last minute.”
Chance Fry acknowledged Seattle is carrying the weight of their league on their back.
“We want to win this, not just for ourselves, but for our league,” Fry told the Seattle Times. “But we want to win any game, any scrimmage. If there’s a trophy at stake, we want to take it.”
Sounders goalkeeper Dusty Hudock made five saves to earn the clean sheet for the home team.
Next up for the Sounders in the Semifinals is a trip south to face the USISL Pro League’s El Paso Patriots, who defeated the Colorado Foxes 2-0 in the Quarterfinals on July 12
