Sounders re-sign Lamar Neagle, add goalkeeper

With just days before their season-opening CONCACAF Champions League match against Santa Tecla, the Seattle Sounders made a pair of signings aimed at bolstering their depth. Lamar Neagle has re-signed — technically his fifth stint with the Sounders — and Calle Brown has been added as a backup goalkeeper.

Brown was the Houston Dynamo’s third goalkeeper last year and will now compete with Bryan Meredith for playing time with Seattle Sounders FC. The University of Virginia graduate is a giant, even for a keeper listed at 6’5” by MLS.

In 2015 Brown was a rotational starter with the Pittsburgh Riverhounds, playing 1500 competitive minutes in 1 Open Cup and 15 USL starts. The past two seasons he was on contract with the Dynamo, but mostly played for Rio Grande Valley FC. Brown got 1710 minutes in 17 starts for RGVFC and earned 10 clean sheets. He also made the bench six times for the Dynamo during that time.

Carson at DynamoTheory.com describes his play,

Calle was the third keeper for the Dynamo, so he saw most of his match time with the Toros. When he was loaned down, he was typically solid as a rock. He’s a tall, strong keeper and does well to control his penalty area. Towards the end of last season, he had a couple very uncharacteristic errors that allowed goals. But, while he may not make massive highlight reel saves, he’s steady and communicates well with his backline.

With Seattle, Brown should be expected to be a veteran leader educating an S2 backline that could average less than 20 years of age (Hinds/Usman, Ele, Rogers, Ulysse).

Neagle, who had been a free agent, will likely fill a similar role as he did after be acquired in a late-season trade last year when he mostly came off the bench late in games. Neagle scored a pair of goals in just 88 minutes.