Top > Sport > 2005 > August > 2005-08-16

Seattle Sounders cannot shake Richmond

They put their first shot of the night into the net. But it was all of the near-misses after that -- not to mention a late-game defensive breakdown -- that came back to haunt the Seattle Sounders on Saturday night. So a result that went into the books as a 1-1 USL First Division tie against the Richmond Kickers on the turf at Qwest Field had all the feelings of a bitter defeat in the tomb-like silence of the Sounders` locker room beneath the stands.

"To work that hard all night and give one up at the end it was disappointing," said Kevin Sakuda, whose crossing pass at the 5:30 mark led to Brent Whitfield`s wide-open goal and the end of a 332-minute Seattle scoring drought. "But give credit to Richmond -- they battled and didn`t give up the whole game."

That silent locker room wasn`t going to be that way for long -- Sounders coach Brian Schmetzer already was planning to give his team a pointed and vociferous piece of his mind after a golden opportunity to improve its playoff positioning slipped away in front of 2,446 fans.

Less than two minutes from claiming three points, sole possession of third place and staying in the hunt for a first-round playoff bye, Seattle (9-4-9, 36 points) had to settle for single point, remaining deadlocked with Richmond (10-7-6, 36) for third, and is still looking up at one of those coveted top-two spots in the standings that guarantees an extra week off come playoff time.