RENTON — If the Seattle Sounders are to salvage their season, it’s entirely possible that a couple of plays made by Andrew Thomas on Wednesday are a big reason why.
Within a roughly two-minute stretch, Thomas made two saves that certainly allowed the Sounders to snap their 13-game winless streak, and with a little luck could spark a larger turnaround.
The sequence started with what seemed to be a relatively inconsequential clearance that Jackson Ragen seemed to be tracking well enough. But after the ball bounced, RSL forward Sergi Solans was able to sneak behind Ragen and gain possession to create a 1v1 opportunity with Andrew Thomas.
As Solans dribbled toward goal, Thomas focused on not committing too early. Thomas kept his feet before ultimately diving to swat the ball away as Solans attempted to round him, albeit with a heavy touch.
“The ball was bouncing a little bit initially off of his touch, and I didn’t want to get chipped on an early early shot,” Thomas explained. “As it settled, I came out a little bit higher and was going to try and make myself big, expecting him to kind of take an early finish.
“And then as he took his touch, I thought that ‘I can get to this,’ and got my feet going and got a good push. Once I was in there, I think I can get this pretty easily.”
About a minute later, Danny Musovski scored what turned out to be the game-winner, but Thomas had one more big play to ensure that was the case. Immediately after the kickoff, Solans again found himself with a good opportunity. This time, he laced a left-footed shot that appeared to be headed toward the upper-90 only for Thomas to make a sprawling right-handed save.
The momentum the Sounders grabbed from the sequence may well have carried them to victory.
“You can hear the crowd and feel that energy, and it makes a massive difference in how I’m feeling for sure, and over the rest of the team,” Thomas said. “They made a massive difference. They were loud.”
Those turned out to be the two most consequential plays Thomas had to make, and are also largely illustrative of the first-year starter’s strengths. While Thomas still has some holes in his game — most notably his distribution and communication — he has proven himself an elite shot-stopper and has impressive athleticism when coming off his line.
As the Sounders prepare to face Minnesota United on Saturday, Thomas leads the league in Opta’s “goals prevented” category (10.1), ranks fifth in shutouts (7), is seventh in save percentage (74.2) and is ninth in goals allowed per 90 (1.32), despite facing more shots on target than all but two of the goalkeepers who rank in the top 20 of that category. He also ranks in the 94th percentile for “high claims,” which tracks how often goalkeepers come off their line to play a cross or a set piece.
Like all goalkeepers, though, Thomas mostly judges himself by the team’s record. For this to feel like a truly successful transition from the legendary Stefan Frei, Thomas will at least need to lead the Sounders into the postseason. Finally getting a win was a mandatory first step.
“It’s all consuming when results aren’t going your way,” Thomas said. “It’s very, very hard not to think about how results have been. So it feels a lot better, a lot more smiles than there have been.
“But pretty quickly, I think the focus has shifted to Saturday because this is huge week. We all know it. We need three points this weekend again. With guys coming back, with us playing better, we’ve got some momentum, and we can definitely keep it rolling.”
Notes
- The Sounders caught a bit of a break when Minnesota revealed that star playmaker Joaquin Pereyra did not travel after suffering a “lower extremity” injury.
