Michael Harris in a non-flip moment

In front of a crowd of 1,129 at Tumwater Stadium Sunday afternoon, the Sounders U-23s and Portland Timbers U-23s battled to a scoreless draw for the 83 minutes before the Timbers’ Zack Foxhoven’s gathered a pass in the box from Nick Palodichuk and buried a shot past Sounders goalkeeper Zac Lubin to score the game’s only goal in a 1-o Timbers victory. It was a hard fought game between two of the best teams in the PDL’s Northwest Division but was marred a strange tactic that the Sounders U-23s employed many times throughout the game.

Sounders U-23 midfielder Michael Harris first rolled out his flip throw-in about 15 minutes into the game to the gasp and cheer of the unsuspecting crowd. Harris took the ball, did a forward tumble putting the ball on the ground over his head, tumbling back up and releasing a long throw into the box when he was back upright. It’s a play in soccer that is something to see, something to behold and got the crowd, primarily made up of Blackhills FC players and parents, excited.

But Harris and the Sounders U-23s did it again and again and again and again. In fact, in the first half I counted ten flip throw-ins from Harris and though I stopped counting, I estimate at least another ten in the second half. And while the throw-ins looked cool and sometimes resulted in a throw-in from a better position (inevitably another flip throw-in), most of the time there was nobody on the other end of the throws and the trade off was that the Sounders never kept possession in the midfield for any amount of time. It was an all or nothing strategy that turned out to be nothing in the long run.

It was a strange strategy that felt like a cheesy gimmick after the first few times. Perhaps I’m wrong, but it felt like I was watching Loyola Marymount basketball in the early 90’s or Grinnell College basketball but instead of taking the best shot available every ten seconds, they just lobbed it into traffic in the paint and hoped it would hit off their center’s head and into the basket.

This was the first Sounders U-23s game that I have seen this season so I’m not sure if it is a strategy that head coach Darren Sawatzky has employed in previous games or not, but it struck me as a lack of confidence in the ability of his midfield. I honestly can’t remember even one time when the ball went to the midfield and they strung a handful of passes together or backed it out to the midfield or back to the defense. Everything was over the top passes or long flip throw-ins and that was it. It resulted in 11 shots but nothing particularly tough for Timbers keeper David Meves.

Eventually the pressure of never having possession got to the Sounders and resulted in a 1-0 loss that snapped their three game winning streak and dropped them to 3-3-1 on the season, six points behind the first place Timbers.

Image courtesy of Sounders U-23s Facebook page

Sounders U-23’s Jamael Cox hits the game winner against the Timbers U-23s in 2012.

The Sounders U-23s and Portland Timbers U-23s meet on Sunday at Tumwater Stadium at 2:00 PM in the junior version of the Cascadia Cup. Yesterday we took a look at the PDL Northwest Division leading Timbers, today we preview the Sounders, 1-o winners of last year’s version in the South Sound…

Blake Wise

The Sounders U-23s come into the Tumwater game just three points behind the Timbers U-23s for first place. The Sounders have 10 points at 3-2-1 and are coming off of a 1-0 win over the North Sound Seawolves on Wednesday night in Sumner. Blake Wise scored the game’s only goal midway through the second half. It was the San Diego State senior’s second goal of the season. In the 2012 season for the Aztecs, Wise tallied four goals with five assists in 18 games.

Wise shares the scoring lead for the Sounders with San Diego State alum Miles Byass and University of Akron senior Aodhan Quinn. Wise spent 2011 with the Timbers U-23s before spending 2012 with Orange County Blue Star. Meanwhile, Quinn is in his second season with the Sounders after scoring four goals with three assists for Akron in his junior year. Quinn led the 2012 Sounders with six goals and three assists.

Zac Lubin as a Saint

Three local players are getting minutes for the Sounders this season. Saint Martin’s alum Zac Lubin has made two starts in the PDL season allowing three goals to his former squad, the Kitsap Pumas, in a 3-3 draw on May 24th at Curtis High School and earning the shutout with three saves against North Sound on Wednesday. He also made two starts in the US Open Cup getting the win over Doxa Italia before dropping a 3-0 decision to the USL Pro’s Charlotte Eagles. Lubin spent 2012 with the Pumas making 15 starts posting a 1.034 goals against average.

Capital High School grad and Gonzaga senior defender Josh Phillips has made three appearances and though not credited with an assist, Phillips played a ball in from the corner to Wise who scored a bicycle kick goal in stoppage time to knock off the Washington Crossfire 1-o.

Yelm’s Miguel Gonzalez has made one appearance, playing 17 minutes as a sub against Kitsap. The senior at Seattle University scored four goals with an assist in his junior season with the Redhawks.

Luis Estevez rounds out the goal scoring this season for the Sounders. The native of Rotorua, New Zealand is heading into his sophomore season at the University of Mobile.

Veteran defender Steve Mohn has added two assists in six games and has teamed with fellow University of Washington Husky Chris Brundage and Puyallup’s Mark Lee on the back line.

The Sounders U-23s are coming off of a PDL semifinals run in 2012. The Sounders came into last season’s game in Tumwater with a 2-1-3 record. Including their 1-o win over Portland, the Sounders went 9-1 to finish out the regular season finishing in first place of the Northwest Division. They then beat the Washington Crossfire, FC Tucson and the Ventura County Fusion in the playoffs before falling to Forest City London, the PDL’s eventual champion, in the semifinals.

DeAndre Yedlin in Tumwater with the Sounders U-23s in 2012

Four players from last season’s squad signed professional contracts this season. DeAndre Yedlin has played in 11 MLS games for the Seattle Sounders, Anthony Arena has appeared once for the Houston Dynamo, Doug Herrick signed with the MLS pool but has yet to be signed to a team and Jamael Cox, who scored the game winner in last year’s game in Tumwater, signed with the Tampa Bay Rowdies.

The two teams have met once already this season with Portland taking a 2-o win in the season opener in Portland. They will also meet in Beaverton in the season finale on July 16th.

Tickets for the Sounders U-23s and Portland Timbers U23s on Sunday afternoon at Tumwater Stadium are just $10 and will be available at the gate. First kick is scheduled for 2:00 PM.

Images courtesy of San Diego State and Saint Martin’s athletics. Other photos are Oly Sports originals.

On Sunday afternoon, the junior version of the Cascadia Cup returns to the South Sound for a second year when the Sounders U-23s and Portland Timbers U-23s meet at Tumwater Stadium at 2:00 PM. Last season, Jamael Cox scored the game’s only goal in stoppage time to give the Sounders U-23s a 1-0 win in front of a crowd of nearly 1,400.

Today we take a look at the Timbers U-23s squad that will travel the 100 miles up to Tumwater to take part in one of Oly Sports’ favorite sporting events of the year.

David Meves

The Timbers U-23s come into Sunday’s game in first place of the Premier Development League’s Northwest Division with 13 points at 4-1-1. The Timbers were undefeated through five games until they fell to Washington Crossfire 1-0 on Wednesday night at Redmond High School.

The Timbers U-23s have allowed just two goals this PDL season, the only other one coming to North Sound on May 18th. Goalkeeper David Meves has four shutouts in six games. The University of Akron alum posted a career goals against average of an astounding 0.50 and finished his four year career for the Zips as the NCAA’s all-time leader in shutouts with 54 including a 1-0 shutout in the 2010 NCAA College Cup championship game.

Clark Phillips

Clark Phillips leads the Timbers with three goals. The junior forward from Gonzaga is in his second season with the club having scored four goals for them in 2012. Phillips started all 19 games for the Zags and scored five goals with two assists. Phillips teams with the University of Memphis’ Mark Sherrod in the front. Sherrod has a pair of assists for the Timbers and scored 12 goals with four assists in his junior season at Memphis.

Creighton junior Eric Miller has scored two goals and an assist for the Timbers after starting all 19 games for the Bluejays including a College Cup semifinal loss to eventual national champion Indiana. However, Miller might not be with the club in Tumwater. He just wrapped up a stint with the US U-20 National Team at the Toulon Tournament in Toulon, France.

The Timbers U-23s and Sounders U-23s have met once already this season, a 2-0 season opening Timbers win on May 16th at Jeld-Wen Field in front of a Thursday afternoon crowd of 3,681. Miller opened the scoring in the 25th minute and Zack Foxhoven, a senior at Louisville, scored in the 65th minute.

Last season, the Timbers finished second to the Sounders U-23s in the Northwest Division and earned a trip to the Western Conference Championships with a 2-1 win over the Kitsap Pumas and current Sounders U-23s goalkeeper Zac Lubin. The Timbers fell to the Ventura County Fusion, 1-0, in Ventura, California to end their season.

The Timbers qualified for the US Open Cup and knocked off the NPSL’s Sacramento Gold, 3-2, at Jeld-Wen Field on May 14th before falling to the USL Pro’s Charleston Battery, 1-0, in Portland on May 21st.

Jim Rilatt is in his fifth season as the head coach of the Timbers. He led them to a 20-0-0 season and a PDL championship in 2010.

Images courtesy of  Gonzaga and Creighton athletic departments and the Sounders U-23s.

Sounders U-23 players salute the fans at Tumwater Stadium that watched them knock off the Timbers U-23s in 2012.

The junior version of North American soccer’s biggest rivalry will return to the Olympia area in the 2013 season.

Last week, the Premier Development League and the Sounders U-23s released the 2013 schedule that includes a June 9th date between the Sounders U-23s and the Portland Timbers U-23s at Tumwater Stadium.

Last season, a mostly Sounders partisan crowd of 1,300 packed Tumwater Stadium and saw the Sounders U-23s’ Jamael Cox score an added time goal to knock off the Timbers U-23s 1-0. It was the first game between the two sides since the Tacoma Tides were sold and entered into an agreement with Seattle Sounders FC and rebranded as the Sounders U-23s. The 1,300 fans turned out to be the largest home crowd that the Sounders U-23s played in front of in 2012 and the game was named the 2012 Oly Sports moment of the year.

The Timbers U-23s game in Tumwater is the premier event on the Sounders U-23s schedule this season. The ex-Tides have left Tacoma altogether and moved the majority of their home games to Sumner’s Sunset Stadium. They will also play two home games against the Washington Crossfire at the Starfire complex in Renton.

Besides the Tumwater game in 2012, they played two games at Tacoma’s Cheney Stadium that for various reasons failed to draw the crowds that were expected. They played the remainder of their season in front of smallish crowds at Franklin Pierce High School.

Three Sounders U-23 players that played in the Tumwater game last season either signed or were drafted by Major League Soccer clubs. DeAndre Yedlin, a defender from the University of Akron and a Sounders Academy product, signed with Seattle Sounders FC as their first Homegrown Player while UCLA’s Fernando Monge was drafted #18 overall by the Montreal Impact in the MLS SuperDraft last week and Anthony Arena was drafted by the Houston Dynamo in the supplemental draft today.

First kick on June 9th is scheduled for 2:00 PM.