(DUDLEY FIELD, El Paso, TX) -- As Brian Ching's chip shot from the left of the box rolled slowly into the net in the 96th minute -- a golden goal based on iron effort -- the wave of nausea was close to unanimous. Except, of course, for those few players who were dressed like Ching in Seattle Sounders black.
The El Paso Patriots had let slip a golden opportunity to close the gap separating first (Seattle) from second (formerly El Paso) in the Pacific Division; had let it slip away like so many of their 24 shots -- outdoing the Sounders by 15 in that department -- as well as in almost every other phase of the game.
And it stung.
The Patriots came into their midweek contest against the Sounders with so much on their side. Weather was warm and clear. The crowd was again over 2,000 even though it was a Wednesday night. The team had been playing well with road wins at Cincinnati and Minnesota.
Even history was on the Patriots' side -- the only other time Seattle had been on the Dudley pitch was a brutal August afternoon seven years ago, losing 1-0 in the semifinals of the U.S. Open Cup to a gritty third division side that grew the grass long to slow the game.
It was the second Seattle-El Paso match to finish 1-0 at Dudley, but this time it was the Sounders who slowed things down -- and won.
No one watching this match would have predicted the outcome, though.
El Paso's Danny Frias was again a demon, possessing everything over the center stripe from the opening whistle.
Frias, who, in just under two months time has overtaken Luis Renato DaGama as the Patriots' scoring leader, forced defenders to go where they didn't want to go, made them pay for going where they shouldn't and generally made Seattle's heads spin like Linda Blair.
They even made some of the same faces, too.
But though Frias was Legion, Sounder goalkeeper Preston Burpo cast him out of his goal along with the rest of the Patriots time after time.
Seattle's savior stopped all 11 shots he faced, including some miraculous saves when El Paso was right on his doorstep.
The shots that did beat Burpo were either wide or hit the post. It was that kind of a night for the home team, who showed their frustration the further in the match they got without scoring.
However, it looked like Seattle would crack first. Midfielder Chad Brown, who had been watching the quicker Patriots slip by, was booked for a hard challenge just 11 minutes into the match. Brown then followed that by tripping El Paso defender Fabio Terra in the 42nd minute. Referee Jair Marrufo was quick to show Brown, then Terra the yellow, the difference being it was Brown's second booking of the night.
With Brown out, the Sounders were down to 10 men with over half the match remaining and the Patriots quickly tried to capitalize, resulting in an amazing series of three El Paso corner kicks. Though the larger Seattle defense or Burpo got the initial balls sent into the box, the Patriots did come up with a ball in close quarters. A quick pass from Dominic Schell found Frias in a familiar spot -- behind the Seattle defense -- but Frias was at too severe an angle and the shot went wide just before the whistle.
The second half was much of the same. Frias, who had nine shots on the night, showcased his superior positioning but looked to be forcing his shots too close to the corners, trying to beat a goalkeeper at least as good as he was at being in the right place at the right time.
El Paso kept coming up with shot after shot, but Burpo -- though his name sounds like a Marx Brother with acid reflux -- was quicker than Groucho's wit on opera night.
And then the Sounders began to counter effectively. Forced to bunker themselves even further into a defensive shell, Seattle head coach Brian Schmetzer brought in forward Greg Foisie to replace midfielder Jason Boyce in the 63rd minute adding a little juice to the mix.
If the Sounders were adding juice, the Patriots went straight to the liquor cabinet, bringing in more fancy footwork with Jose Lomeli in the 61st, speed merchant forward Matt Stewart in the 68th and offensive midfielder Paul Cabrera in the 87th. The result was definitely more offense -- El Paso had 15 shots in the second half alone.
But Burpo continued his brilliance and bought Seattle the break they'd been looking for in the 82nd minute.
After a particularly edgy series in the Sounders box, Seattle cleared the ball upfield. Quick on the transition, Ching found himself a step ahead of Terra and with no one but Patriots goalie Alfredo Estrada in front of him -- the Sounders biggest offensive break of the night to that point. But Terra took Ching down from behind with a nasty shove to the back of the head. Marrufo immediately showed Terra the straight red -- no second yellow here -- and suddenly it was all even.
El Paso continued to play well offensively through the rest of regulation and just shy of added time Lomeli came up with perhaps the Patriots' shot of the night, a gorgeous chip near the top of the 18 that was dipping perfectly under the crossbar, until...
...Burpo appeared from nowhere to get a right hand under the ball trying to lift it over. The ball rattled off the top of the crossbar, over and out, taking the Patriots' collective heart right along with it.
El Paso's vigor in the attack was nowhere to be seen after 90 minutes. Seattle, sensing this and feeling morally victorious to have withstood what they did to begin with, was all over a Patriots' defense that was probably wondering what they were doing so deep in their own end.
The Sounders had three consecutive corners of their own in the overtime, and, finally keeping the ball in the offensive half of the field, Seattle caught El Paso napping in the 96th. Viet Nguyen sent in a low, driving cross from the right wing. The ball eventually came to Ching, who's rolling, off-balance shot for the gamewinner was the perfect anti-climax to a thunderously played match.
Credit the players from the rainswept climes of Seattle, they know how to handle a storm.
SEATTLE 1, EL PASO 0
Seattle 0-0-1--1
El Paso 0-0-0--0
Scoring: 96, Ching (Nguyen)
SEATTLE: Preston Burpo, Scott Jenkins, Zach Scott, Ryan Edwards, Viet Nguyen, Chad Brown, Andrew Gregor, Leighton O'Brien, Jason Boyce (63, Greg Foisie), Brian Ching, Darren Sawatzky (75, Danny Huet).
EL PASO: Jesse Llamas (22, Alfredo Estrada), Sidnei dos Santos, Fabio Terra (82), Carlos Martinez (68, Matt Stewart), Eduardo Silva, Dominic Schell, Ahmed Figueroa (87, Paul Cabrera), Jose Abarca, Federico Juarez, Daniel Frias, Omar Mora (61, Jose Lomeli).
Shots: SEA 3-5-1--9; ELP 9-15-0--24. Saves: SEA 11, Burpo 4-7-0--11; ELP 4, Llamas 1-0-0--1, Estrada 0-3-0--3. Fouls: SEA 7-5-0--12; ELP 7-7-0--14.
Offside: SEA 1-0-0--1; ELP 0-0-0--0. Corner Kicks: SEA 2-2-3--7; ELP 6-4-0--10.
Cautions: SEA 3, (11, Brown, UB; 42, Brown, UB; 53, Edwards, UB); ELP 2 (42, Terra, UB; 78, Juarez, UB).
Ejections: SEA 1 (42, Brown, 2CT); ELP 1 (82, Terra, DGF).
Officials: Referee-Jair Marrufo, Senior Assistant-Anthony Kelly, Junior Assistant-Andrew Gage, Fourth Official-Sergio Vega.
Attendance: 2,212.
