Sounders reserves rough up UW

Coming off a frustrating match in which the Sounders dominated play, failed to score on any of their 12 corner kicks and lost their first game of the season, it should come as no surprise that the players appeared to have a little extra motivation in their Monday reserve game.

While beating the University of Washington men's team 5-0 is nothing close to beating a professional squad, there were signs that the Sounders may be figuring out what ails them, at least on corners.

They scored their first two goals off corners, both served up by Nathan Sturgis (I think). Michael Fucito scored the first of his two goals in the ninth minute and Tyson Wahl scored on another one about eight minutes later.

Fucito was one of four players to play in Monday's game who appear to be fighting for one starting spot, as well as the opportunity to be the first player off the bench. Of that group, only Roger Levesque was given the day off. All four of those players looked particularly sharp, generally moving the ball with ease and creating numerous scoring opportunities.

In addition to Fucito's two goals, Pat Noonan and David Estrada scored, while Sanna Nyassi had a pair of assists.

Fucito gave the Sounders a 3-0 lead on a nice shot from about 20 yards out in the 24th minute.

Noonan put away a perfect service Sanna Nyassi in the 30th minute that sent the Sounders into halftime up 4-0.

Nyassi then hooked up with Estrada, who headed home another great cross, in the 63rd minute.

The players didn't exude any sense that this reserve game was any different than others, but there's no question they're aware that games like this one play a significant part in determining who plays, and how much.

"It's just consistent effort at training," Sounders coach Sigi Schmid said. "Today (Estrada) gets a goal again. Obviously Fucito got a couple of goals also so they are battling there. We thought the one week Fucito was a little bit ahead. We thought the next week Estrada was a little bit ahead. So it's good. The competition side is good to get yourself in there. So they have got to continue to do that and continue to battle for the time."