Saturday afternoon, players on trial with S2 took on the University of Portland Pilots on a sun-drenched field in front of dozens of fans at Starfire Sports in Tukwila. It was the second of a series of preseason scrimmages S2 will play as coaches try to hammer down a final roster to begin play March 21st against Sacramento Republic FC.
Similar to the team’s scrimmage on Thursday against the Sounders FC Academy U-18s, Head Coach Ezra Hendrickson subbed in three different groups of 11 playing 30 minutes each.
The first group dominated a majority of possession for the first 30 minutes. An early foul from a Pilot midfielder set up what was probably the best chance for the team, a free kick goal that was punched away at the last second.
By the time the second group came in for S2, the Pilots seemed to have found their rhythm and controlled more possession before half. At the 40-minute mark, University of Portland took the lead via a forward who carried the ball through midfield, dodged a couple defenders and got into a one-on-one with the S2 keeper. He put the shot away into the bottom left corner, and the Pilots went into halftime with a one-goal lead.
At sixty minutes, the third and final team of trialists came on for S2. More chances were created, but the team just couldn’t find the back of the net. That is until another foul set up a 25-yard free kick attempt, which an S2 trialist stepped up and fired into the top right corner past the Pilot keeper.
S2 thought they had a game winner moments later when a free kick went into the box, bounced around and was finished into the back of the net. However, the assistant referee judged the play offside.
Coach Hendrickson and his staff will be making cuts from the group of players over the next couple days and will be back in action next week with scrimmages already set against University of Washington and Gonzaga University.
A complete schedule for the upcoming week of training and scrimmages will be made available soon on SoundersFC.com.
