 |
 |
 |
|
SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) - Kenji Treschuk and Hugo Alcaraz-Cuellar scored second-half goals to give the minor league Seattle Sounders a 2-1 exhibition victory Tuesday night over the San Jose Earthquakes of MLS.
Jamil Roberts scored the only goal for San Jose, which rested many of its regular starters. Goalkeeper Joe Cannon and recent additions Darren Huckerby, Scott Sealy and Francisco Lima, who have contributed heavily to the Earthquakes' seven-game unbeaten streak in MLS play, didn't play.
The game was still a good test for the Sounders, defending champion of the United Soccer League's First Division. Seattle players will be made available to the Seattle Sounders FC expansion franchise when it joins MLS next season.
Treschuk got the Sounders even 1-1 in the 50th minute, converting a point-blank, right-footed shot after receiving a flicked header from Roger Levesque.
Seattle, which outshot San Jose 8-3 in the second half, kept the pressure on in the latter stages, culminating in a pretty sequence of three passes inside the Earthquakes' penalty box in the 85th minute. The final pass, from Sebastien Le Toux, led to an open 12-yard blast from Alcaraz-Cuellar that San Jose goalkeeper Michael Gustavson could only watch.
The Earthquakes took a 1-0 lead when Jovan Kirovski's perfectly curled corner kick from the left side was powered in off a header by Roberts in the 40th minute.
Seattle came close to answering 90 seconds later when Taylor Graham got a head to a corner kick from Leughton O'Brien. But Graham's shot ricocheted off the crossbar.
The Earthquakes found some similar luck in the second half. Forward Mikel Arce got behind the Seattle defense for a 60th-minute breakaway, but a shot caromed off the left post and out of bounds.
