Kevin Forrest celebrates his winning goal in Tuesday's US Open Cup play-in match.
Kevin Forrest has an extensive local soccer pedigree. He is the son of NASL Seattle Sounders striker Ward Forrest and was a four-year star at the University of Washington.
Tuesday night Forrest scored the lone goal as Sounders FC beat the Colorado Rapids 1-0 to advance into the third round of US Open Cup play that begins on June 30th.
In the 61st minute midfielder Sanna Nyassi took a throw-in up the right flank . With a defender on his back, forward Roger Leveque flicked it on to find streaking Forrest to finish with a header past Rapids keeper Preston Burpo at the far post.
MLSnet.com reports: After an hour of scoreless soccer, Forrest deftly cut inside his marker and headed home a flick from Roger Levesque from inside the 6-yard box. Jubilant, the native of nearby Edmonds pulled his jersey over his head and ran in front of the cheering crowd to receive his adulation. It proved to be the game-winner, as Seattle retreated into a defensive shell to ensure the victory.
Post-match video from Next Season Sports. Read their match report here.
The Sounders will find out their June 30th Cup opponent and venue in the coming weeks as results come in from the first two rounds of play. It is possible Seattle could face either the Kitsap Pumas or the Portland Timbers depending on which team advances from their match-up and if that club can then go on to win in round two.
Prost Amerika.com blogged the match live and the entries make a nice recap of the action.
Forrest blows by Colorado's Kosuke Kimura.
The win allows the success of Seattle's soccer franchises in the tournament a chance to continue. The United Soccer Leagues Seattle Sounders have twice advanced to the final four of the Cup in recent years while they were members of the United Soccer Leagues.
There was much discussion on how seriously the newly-minted MLS Sounders would take the Open Cup. With recent injuries and a busy league schedule Sounders FC were forced to play a mixture of starters and reserves, such as Forrest, in the match. Kasey Keller started the match in goal for the Sounders.
USOpenCup.com reports: The Rapids fail to qualify for the tournament for the second year in a row. In fact, the last time Colorado participated in the Open Cup, they lost 5-0 to the USL-1 version of the Sounders in the quarterfinals of the 2007 tournament.
Seattle has only missed the tournament twice (1998, 2004) since they debuted in 1995, and last year they became the first USL First Division team to advance to the semifinals in two consecutive seasons. During that two-year run, the Sounders were 7-1-2 and eliminated four MLS teams.
Scoring Summary:
SEA -- Kevin Forrest (Roger Levesque, Sanna Nyassi) 61
Colorado Rapids -- Preston Burpo, Kosuke Kimura, Ty Harden, Rob Valentino, Michael Holody, Jacob Peterson, Mehdi Ballouchy (Nick LaBrocca 46), Terry Cooke, Ciaran O'Brien (Jordan Harvey 70), Ross Schunk (Scott Palguta 71), Gregory Richardson.
Substitutes Not Used: Colin Clark, Omar Cummings, Ivan Guerrero, Matt Pickens.
TOTAL SHOTS: 12 (Terry Cooke 3); SHOTS ON GOAL: 4 (4 tied with 1); FOULS: 8 (Jordan Harvey 2, Gregory Richardson 2); OFFSIDES: 8 (Gregory Richardson 6); CORNER KICKS: 5 (Terry Cooke 4); SAVES: 4 (Preston Burpo 4)
Seattle Sounders -- Kasey Keller, Evan Brown, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Patrick Ianni, Tyson Wahl, Sanna Nyassi (Nate Jaqua 80), Stephen King, Nathan Sturgis, Kevin Forrest (James Riley 72), Roger Levesque, Sebastien Le Toux.
Substitutes Not Used: Brad Evans, Fredy Montero, Peter Vagenas, Steve Zakuani, Ben Dragavon.
TOTAL SHOTS: 12 (Sanna Nyassi 3); SHOTS ON GOAL: 6 (Stephen King 2, Sanna Nyassi 2); FOULS: 3 (3 tied with 1); OFFSIDES: 4 (Roger Levesque 3); CORNER KICKS: 5 (Sebastien Le Toux 5); SAVES: 4 (Kasey Keller 4)
Referee: Tony Russo
Referee's Assistants: -Mike Rottersman; Baboucarr Jallow
4th Official: Josh Wilkens
Attendance: 4,007
Time of Game: 1:50
Weather: Partly Cloudy-and-64-degrees
Comments
SuperKev to the rescue!
Kitsap fans say "bring on the Sounders!" ;)
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