MATCH PREVIEW
On Sunday afternoon, Sounders FC 2 hosts Sacramento Republic FC at 2:00 p.m. PT in the first contest of the 2017 campaign at Starfire Stadium. The meeting marks the third consecutive year that S2 opens league play against Sacramento. Seattle is 1-1-0 all-time in season-opening matches against Republic FC. The Rave Green look to begin the campaign on a different foot from last season, which saw the club fall to an 0-3-0 record in the early stages. After three players signed First Team contracts in the offseason (Jordy Delem, Zach Mathers and Nouhou Tolo), S2 will rely on a new crop of young talent, including Academy products Lorenzo Ramos, David Olsen and Shandon Hopeau. Republic FC comes off a 14-6-10 record and a first-place finish in the Western Conference. After winning the league title in 2015, Paul Buckle’s side reached the Western Conference Semifinals last season.
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Shandon Hopeau Blazing Trail from Hawaii to Seattle Sounders Hawaii being our Homegrown territory, and we think that Shandon is the tip of the iceberg in terms of talent that exists on the islands.” Although Hopeau is the third Sounders Academy product in club history to sign directly with S2, he is the first prospect recruited from an out-of-catchment area to do so. “It’s a big accomplishment knowing I’m the first player [from Hawaii] to sign,” said Hopeau. “I’m not there yet, though, and I want to come in every day and compete for a spot.
By Joseph Mondello
Roughly 2,600 miles separate Seattle and Honolulu, but for the Sounders, they might as well be neighbors. When Seattle Sounders FC 2 announced the signing of Academy winger and Kapolei, Hawaii native Shandon Hopeau on Wednesday, he became the first player from a Homegrown territory to sign a professional contract with the club. Since the state of Hawaii does not have an MLS club, the Sounders are allowed to sign promising youth players from the islands to the Academy. “We’ve picked up several Hawaiian players, all of whom have made really positive contributions to the Academy,” said Academy Director Marc Nicholls. “We’re excited about the future of
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“Coming from Hawaii I was a bit shy, I usually just have my mom do everything for me,” he continued with a laugh. “Now I’m on my own so I have to learn and start growing up.” It wasn’t easy leaving home before his senior year of high school to join a new club on the mainland, but from Hopeau’s first match with Sounders Academy, it’s been apparent that the hyper-talented attacker thrives under pressure. Hopeau scored four goals in his first two games, against rivals Crossfire Premier and Portland Timbers, and subsequently caught the club’s attention. Hopeau earned his first start for S2 within a month, and the Hawaiian impressed enough in USL play for first team head coach Brian Schmetzer to invite him to train with his squad throughout the run to MLS Cup. Hopeau said it’s been his favorite moment to date. “I think being pushed out of my comfort zone and getting opportunities to play up [with the first team and S2]
brings out a more complete player,” reflected Hopeau. “With S2, I just want to make an impact every game.” Hopeau’s prolonged immersion in a professional environment has accelerated his development in recent months, and it showed when he turned plenty of heads in his Sounders debut in preseason against the Portland Timbers. Although he missed several Academy matches while away with the first team, Hopeau has been lighting up opposition since he returned to the U-18s. In the six matches he’s played upon returning from preseason, he’s tallied two goals and a pair of assists. In all competitions this year, he’s amassed an eye-popping eight goals and three assists in 15 appearances. “I want to come here and work hard every day with S2 so I can hopefully sign a contract with the first team next year,” Hopeau said. “The speed of the play in preseason with the first team has really helped me adjust to the speed of play with S2.” While Hopeau is the first product of the partnership between Sounders
Academy and Hawaii to ink a professional contract, he certainly won’t be the last. The islands are littered with exciting young soccer players, and several of the top prospects currently in the Sounders’ pipeline hail from Hawaii. Stanford-bound Kei Tomozawa (U-18), who has made several appearances for S2, and attacking midfielder Dylan Teves (U-15), are two premier talents recruited from the HG territory. Hopeau’s contract should serve as a source of motivation, not only for the prospects currently in the system, but every young kid in Hawaii with dreams of playing professionally. Hopeau is blazing a trail for a generation of young Hawaiian soccer players to follow in his footsteps. The Sounders have felt like home away from home for Hopeau, and he’s grateful for what the opportunity has afforded him. “The fans [are amazing],” Hopeau said, “and the support that I’ve gotten on Twitter [since joining the Academy] makes me feel like I made the perfect decision in joining the Sounders.”
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2017 SEATTLE SOUNDERS FC PLAYERS NO. NAME
POS. HT. WT. D.O.B.
HOMETOWN
GK F M M D M M M M M F F D D F M M GK D F M M D D GK D F M F D M F M D D F
Woodbury, NJ Nacogdoches, TX Phoenix, AZ Gothenburg, Sweden Douala, Cameroon San Cristobal, Cub Pico Rivera, CA Soriano, Uraguay Paysandú, Uruguay Seattle, WA Seattle, WA Mercer Island, WA Riverside, CA Santa Barbara, CA St. Louis, MO Martinique Seattle, WA Altstaetten, Switz. Panama City, Panama Green Bay, Antigua Fife, WA Ft. Worth, TX Trinidad & Tobago Lititz, PA Scotch Plains, NJ Gonaives, Haiti Kapolei, HI Inglewood, CA Seattle, WA Copley, OH Panama City, Panama Fife, WA Kansas City, MO Portmore, Jamaica Yaounde, Cameroon Doula, Cameroon
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 10 11 12 13 14 15 17 21 23 24 29 30* 31* 32 33 34* 35 36* 37* 38* 71* 73* 77* 80** 88* 91 92* 99*
Tyler Miller Clint Dempsey Brad Evans Gustav Svensson Nouhou Tolo Osvaldo Alonso Cristian Roldan Alvaro Fernandez Nicolás Lodeiro Aaron Kovar Seyi Adekoya Jordan Morris Chad Marshall Tony Alfaro Will Bruin Jordy Delem Henry Wingo Stefan Frei Román Torres Javorn Stevens Lorenzo Ramos Zach Mathers Joevin Jones Brian Nana-Sinkam Bryan Meredith Denso Ulysse Shandon Hopeau Irvin Parra David Olsen Riley Grant Francisco Narbon Victor Mansaray Ray Saari Oniel Fisher Rodrigue Ele Felix Chenkam
*Signed to a S2 Contract ** Out on loan
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6-4 6-1 6-1 6-0 5-10 5-11 5-8 6-1 5-7 5-10 5-11 6-0 6-4 6-2 6-2 5-11 6-0 6-3 6-2 6-0 5-7 5-11 5-11 6-0 6-2 5-8 5-10 6-1 6-0 6-1 5-9 5-11 5-7 5-9 6-0 5-6
195 170 170 155 175 155 165 159 150 155 170 185 190 190 194 156 170 195 195 150 150 172 160 185 209 133 158 188 180 182 150 180 150 155 160 165
3/12/93 3/9/83 4/20/85 2/7/87 6/23/97 11/11/85 6/3/95 10/11/85 3/21/89 8/14/93 12/5/95 10/26/94 8/22/84 6/15/93 10/24/89 3/18/93 10/4/95 4/20/86 3/20/86 5/9/98 1/29/97 4/14/94 8/3/91 1/1/95 8/2/90 11/20/98 12/1/98 8/18/93 2/5/96 1/27/95 2/11/95 2/22/97 4/18/95 11/22/91 3/2/98 12/8/98
PREVIOUS CLUB
Northwestern (NCAA) Tottenham Hotspur (ENG) Columbus Guangzhou R&F (CHI) Sounders FC 2 (USL) Charleston (USL) Washington (NCAA) Chicago Boca Juniors (ARG) Stanford (NCAA) UCLA (NCAA) Stanford (NCAA) Columbus Cal State (NCAA) Houston Sounders FC 2 (USL) Washington (NCAA) Toronto FC Milionarios (COL) Hoppers FC (AG) Sounders FC Academy Sounders FC 2 (USL) Chicago Stanford (NCAA) San Jose Real Hope (HT) Sounders FC Academy FC Kaiserslautern (GER) Seattle (NCAA) Penn State (NCAA) FC Cincinnati Sounders FC Academy Tulsa (NCAA) New Mexico (NCAA) Rainbow FC Bamenda (CAM) Rainbow FC Bamenda (CAM)
2016 SOUNDERS FC 2 USL STATS Player
GP MIN G A PTS SHT SOG
FC C/E
Darwin Jones 19 1533 7 1 15 35 17 14 1/0 Victor Mansaray 19 1355 5 2 12 22 11 28 3/0 Jordan Schweitzer 22 1685 4 2 10 14 6 26 5/1 Zach Mathers 24 1690 3 4 10 45 20 41 4/0 Myron Samuel 22 1607 3 4 10 34 16 22 1/0 Andy Craven 16 1335 3 2 8 33 15 19 1/0 Mark O’Ojong 28 1768 2 1 5 24 7 30 4/0 Tony Alfaro 20 1762 2 1 5 9 4 20 3/0 Irvin Parra 6 459 1 2 4 9 4 10 2/0 Emir Alihodzic 18 507 1 1 3 5 2 10 1/0 John Magnus 4 123 1 1 3 2 1 1 0/0 Lorenzo Ramos 14 431 1 0 2 1 3 0 0/0 Aaron Kovar 4 148 1 0 2 5 3 2 0/0 Oalex Anderson 3 120 1 0 2 4 2 0 0/0 Jordy Delem 19 1647 0 1 1 7 1 28 0/0 Michael Nelson 19 1613 0 1 1 6 2 10 1/0 Oniel Fisher 12 1066 0 1 1 7 3 17 1/1 Carlos Patino 23 1049 0 1 1 5 2 16 0/0 Nouhou Tolo 24 2061 0 0 0 15 5 29 5/1 Devon Fisher 26 1586 0 0 0 4 1 17 3/0 Wily Kapawa 12 675 0 0 0 5 1 13 3/0 Brandon John 9 545 0 0 0 2 0 0 1/0 Tobi Jnohope 5 436 0 0 0 0 0 4 0/0 Nathan Sturgis 5 373 0 0 0 2 1 6 1/0 Dylan Remick 3 270 0 0 0 0 0 2 0/0 Michael Farfan 7 251 0 0 0 5 0 8 1/0 Nick Hinds 6 249 0 0 0 1 1 3 0/0 Handwalla Bwana 5 160 0 0 0 2 1 1 0/0 Shandon Hopeau 2 97 0 0 0 0 0 0 0/0 Harrison Kurtz 4 92 0 0 0 4 2 2 0/0 Kei Tomozawa 7 92 0 0 0 0 0 2 0/0 Milo Barton 1 61 0 0 0 0 0 2 0/0 Jamie Dimitroff 3 23 0 0 0 1 0 0 0/0 Jake Morris 1 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0/0 Team Totals 30 2700 35 25 306 130 389 45/4 Opponent Totals 30 2700 50 32 379 149 377 57/2 GP-games played; GS-games started; MIN-minutes; G-goals;A-assists; P-points; SHT-shots; SOG-shots on goal; FC/FS-fouls committed/fouls suffered; CK-corner kicks; OFF-offsides; C/E-cautions/ejections
UNF Player GK Tyler Miller GK Charlie Lyon GK Matt Bersano Team Totals Opponent Totals
GP 12 17 2 30 30
MIN 1080 1521 99 2700 2700
SV 47 43 8 99 95
GA 15 31 2 50 35
GAA 1.25 1.95 1.82 1.67 1.17
W-L-D 6-2-4 3-10-4 0-1-0 9-13-8 8-9-13
SO 2 1 0 3 9
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2017 SOUNDERS FC 2 USL REGULAR SEASON SCHEDULE DAY
DATE
OPPONENT
KICKOFF (PT)
Sun. March 26
Sacramento Republic FC
2:00 p.m.
Sun. April 2
Portland Timbers 2
2:00 p.m.
Sat.
April 8
at Whitecaps FC 2
3:00 p.m.
Sat.
April 15
at LA Galaxy II
7:30 p.m.
Sat.
April 22
Real Monarchs SLC
7:00 p.m.
Tues. April 25
San Antonio FC
7:30 p.m.
Sat.
April 29
at Switchbacks FC
7:00 p.m.
Fri.
May 5
Portland Timbers 2
7:00 p.m.
Sat.
May 13
at San Antonio FC
7:30 p.m.
Sat.
May 20
at Reno 1868 FC
5:30 p.m.
Sun. May 28
Sacramento Republic FC
2:00 p.m.
Sat.
June 3
LA Galaxy II
7:00 p.m.
Sat.
June 10
at Toros FC
7:30 p.m.
Mon. June 19
OKC Energy FC
7:30 p.m.
Sat.
June 24
at Orange County SC
5:00 p.m.
Sat.
July 1
at Whitecaps FC 2
3:00 p.m.
Sat.
July 8
at Real Monarchs SLC
7:00 p.m.
Sun. July 16
Orange County SC
2:00 p.m.
Thurs. July 20
Swope Park Rangers
7:30 p.m.
Sun.
July 23
at Sacramento Republic FC
8:00 p.m.
Sat.
July 29
at Switchbacks FC
7:00 p.m.
Sun. August 6
Toros FC
6:30 p.m.
Sun. August 13
Whitecaps FC 2
6:30 p.m.
Fri.
at Portland Timbers 2
7:30 p.m.
Wed. August 30
Tulsa Roughnecks FC
7:30 p.m.
Sat.
September 2
at Phoenix Rising FC
8:30 p.m.
Sat.
September 9
Reno 1868 FC
7:00 p.m.
Sat.
September 16
Switchbacks FC
7:00 p.m.
Wed. September 20
Phoenix Rising FC
7:30 p.m.
Sat.
at Tulsa Roughnecks FC
7:00 p.m.
Wed. October 11
at Swope Park Rangers
7:30 p.m.
Sun.
at OKC Energy FC
5:00 p.m.
August 18
October 7 October 15
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