Sounders 2 end home season with draw

Seattle Sounders 2 closed out their 2018 home season with another draw, their sixth in their last eight home games, against Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC. After a solid first half that included a late goal from Lamar Neagle, S2 came out for the second half a bit lackluster and paid for it. The Switchbacks equalized and took the lead in a stretch of 45 seconds early in the second half. S2 got it back together though and rescued a point with a 2-2 draw thanks to Alec Diaz’s first USL goal in the 81’. S2 would have rather won their home closer but a draw will leave a better taste in the mouth than a loss.

S2’s first real quality chance came in the 11’ when Shandon Hopeau let fly one of his trademark shots from distance. It had the power but not quite the placement to beat Steward Ceus who was able to palm it aside with a dive to his right. Quickly, S2 had another chance, this time from Neagle, but Ceus turned it away with a decent kick save. Just seconds later, another S2 chance went wanting when a quality Neagle cross through the six went untouched and out for a goal kick after a miscontrol from Jordan McCrary.

The Switchbacks had a few minutes of good possession around 16’ but after that S2 began to really dominate, holding possession with clean touches and quick short passing and winning it back with pressure as soon as they gave it away. S2 were unable to broach the 18 though and around 28’ they started to lose possession deeper and deeper in their own territory.

Then came a spell where both side struggled to hold much possession as they took turns turning it over in the middle third or kicking it to the opposing goalkeeper. It looked like the sides would go to half scoreless, but in 45’ S2 got a free kick in the attacking third and they took advantage. Azriel Gonzalez sent in a decent lofted ball towards the middle of the box. Neagle was able to beat everyone to the ball and head it in to make it 1-0 going into half.

The Switchbacks came out of half looking for an early equalizer. They got it with a spectacularly placed curler from outside the 18 from Saeed Robinson that lofted over Meredith and hit the underside of the bar to make it 1-1. Seconds later they took the lead when Karsten Hanlin sent in a cross that beat the whole S2 backline to find Shane Malcolm who volleyed it in from yards out.

S2 appeared momentarily shocked to be down 2-1 but recovered their bearings fairly quickly for a young side and got to work trying to reverse their fortunes. Unfortunately, they struggled to put the Switchbacks under any real pressure for awhile but they did gather themselves defensively somewhat to prevent the game from getting out of hand.

In 65’ S2 were able to start building a bit and saw some good offensive action with decent chances from Gonzalez and Marlon Vargas but neither ended in a shot on goal. After that the Switchbacks took back control of the game but than out of nowhere S2 equalized. They got a throw in deep in the attacking third and sent it into the box. The Switchbacks let it bounce a couple of times and Alec Diaz made them pay, hitting a half volley into the roof of the net from 6 yards out to score his first S2 goal and even the score at 2-2.

After the S2 equalizer both sides pushed hard to get the winning goal but neither could quite show the composer needed in front of net and the game ended with the two sharing the points.