The Reserve Game had a lot of chances with Seattle Sounders FC mainly going over the top while the San Jose Earth started as a team that would build through the middle. After the first goal the Sounders played more short passes and used more high pressure. It was as if a weight got off their shoulders. The 'Quakes would gets slower with their subs and yet moved to more long balls as things got more desperate. The goals that players meant to score all came from shots off corners that were stopped by keepers but then poached by scorers.
Will Bates said goals don't need to be pretty they just need to count.
"For me a goal is a goal. That's how I see it. It doesn't matter how it scores. We won the game because of it. Every goal doesn't have to be a pretty goal for it to count, so that's my aim. Sometimes it's just about being in the rights spot," he said. "The ball went past me and I circled around in front of the keeper and when it came at me I just had to poke it in."
Sometimes in our joy of the game and desire to analyze we forget that simple fact. When looking backwards all goals count the same. Seattle won its last First Team and Reserve Team games due to poached goals. Both count the same in the Goals For column. Both wins are worth three points.
Stats:
Scoring Summary:
SEA - Own Goal (Hunter Gorskie) 56'
SEA - Will Bates 72'
SJ - Hunter Gorskie 91+
Seattle Sounders FC - Marcus Hahnemann, Zach Scott, Ashani Fairclough, Patrick Ianni, Dylan Remick, Mario Martinez (David Estrada 57'), Servando Carrasco, Andy Rose, Alex Caskey (Josue Martinez 45'), Philip Lund (Will Bates 69'), Eriq Zavaleta (Sammy Ochoa 80').
Substitutes Not Used: Josh Ford, Henry Wingo, Mark Matula.
TOTAL SHOTS: 13; SHOTS ON GOAL: 6; FOULS: 6; OFFSIDE: 3; CORNER KICKS: 7; SAVES: 5.
San Jose Earthquakes - Evan Newton, Colin Mitchell, Hunter Gorskie, Andrew Duran, Dan Gargan, Sam Garza, Abu Tommy (Dan Delgado 71'), Walter Martinez, Cordell Cato (Andrew Gray 60'), Mike Fucito (Tommy Thompson 80'), Adam Jahn (Marcus Tracy 71').
Substitutes Not Used:
None.
TOTAL SHOTS: 16; SHOTS ON GOAL: 6; FOULS: 9; OFFSIDE: 1; CORNER KICKS: 7; SAVES: 5.
Misconduct Summary:
SEA - Sammy Ochoa (caution) 90+
Referee: Katja Koroleva
Referee's Assistants: Marco Arruda, Ray Moffatte Jr.
4th Official: Chipalo Street
Time of Game: 1:52
Weather: Cloudy and 59-degrees