MATCH PREVIEW
On Sunday evening, Sounders FC 2 (1-5-3, 6 points) faces LA Galaxy II (4-3-4, 16 points) at Starfire Stadium. S2 returns to its home venue before embarking on a Cascadia-themed stretch that features two away matches at Portland and an additional home tilt against Vancouver. Last Sunday, S2 lost its second consecutive match in a 2-0 loss to Sacramento Republic FC at Bonney Field. Midfielder Tommy Thompson recorded both goals for the host side, as Republic FC topped the Rave Green for the second time this season. LA Galaxy II comes to Starfire Stadium in second place in the Western Conference. The side is currently on a two-game skid after starting the season 4-0-4. Last Sunday, Galaxy II lost on the road to Vancouver 4-3. On May 7, Galaxy II suffered its first loss of the season in a 2-0 home loss to Sacramento FC. The club plays its home matches at the StubHub Center and is managed by Head Coach Curt Onalfo.
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EVERY GAME LIVE, FREE AND IN HD ON www.uslsoccer.com ©2016 UNITED SOCCER LEAGUE, LLC, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
S2 Reverses Fortune By Cameron Rizzardini After a slow start that saw Sounders FC 2 suffer three straight losses, S2 quickly turned its fortune. The club ended wrapped up the five-match homestand with a win and a draw, before earning a road point on April 26. S2 got off to a fast start at Real Monarchs SLC, controlling most of the possession and generating all the chances, culminating in the 11th minute when forward Victor Mansaray broke through the back line at the right side of the box and fired a far post shot which went out for a goal kick. Forward Myron Samuel then found himself with a clear look at goal when defender Devon Fisher and forward Andy Craven linked up to find Samuel open in the center of the box. Samuel was unable to get enough curve on the ball to tuck it into the corner and
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SCL goalkeeper Lalo Fernandez made the diving save to keep it level. Monarchs had their biggest chance in the 33rd minute when Phanuel Kavita got his head to a well-taken corner kick and forced goalkeeper Tyler Miller into a spectacular fingertip save.
SCL carried most of the momentum in the second half generating eight shots to S2’s one but a strong defense led by USL team of the week nominee Michael Nelson held firm as S2 were able to escape with the point. Homegrown midfielder Jordan Schweitzer made his first start of the season after returning from injury and went for a full 90 minutes. Miller recorded his second straight shutout as S2 are now unbeaten in the last three matches. On April 17, S2 triumphed over Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC 1-0 for its first win of the USL season. Forward Aaron Kovar scored the lone goal of the evening on a penalty kick awarded in the 28th minute.
Midfielder Zach Mathers earned the foul when he followed up forward Andy Craven’s surge into the box, and was taken out by a Switchbacks defender. Kovar sent Switchbacks goalkeeper Devala Gorrick in the wrong direction as he buried the kick calmly into the bottom left corner of the net. The win came five days after S2 grinded out its first point – a 2-2 draw against Rio Grande Valley FC. Tony Alfaro’s equalizing goal came in the 84th minute when defender Oniel Fisher played an attractive free kick into the opposing box, which Alfaro connected to with his head. Forward Victor Mansaray also got on the score sheet, recording the first goal of the season for S2 in the 20th minute from a Zach Mathers through ball.
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MAKING THE JUMP At his introductory press conference in January 2015, Sounders FC General Manager & President of Soccer Garth Lagerwey identified a clear mission for the organization: “You have to vertically integrate the clubs,” Lagerwey said. “You have your First Team, and you have to push strategically to grow the Sounders, but you have to, below that, integrate S2 and the Academy.”
TYLER MILLER
Essentially, Lagerwey wanted a pipeline. Before reaching the First Team and playing in front of the biggest crowds in MLS, players would develop necessary skills and attributes that translate to the next level, all while representing the Sounders FC crest. Last season, Sounders FC 2 strung together a successful inaugural campaign. This success lies deeper than qualifying for the postseason and reaching the fourth round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, though. In 2015, Sounders FC 2 produced three players who were signed to First Team contracts: Andy Craven, Tyler Miller and Oalex Anderson. In June, Craven became the first S2 player to make the leap. He started 12 of his 14 appearances in the USL regular season, scoring five goals and adding a team-high five assists. The University of North Carolina product went on to appear in three MLS matches before suffering an MLC sprain in training. “One of the reasons S2 was created was to develop talent and reward players for their hard work and standout
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the limited time we had to work with him last season,” said Head Coach Sigi Schmid. “We’re excited to continue that development in 2016 as he works further with our staff and the rest of the goalkeeper group.” Earlier this month, Anderson became the most recent S2 player to be signed to a First Team contract. Anderson started seven of 16 appearances for S2 during the 2015 USL season after signing on April 11. The speedy striker scored four goals in just 758 minutes. Internationally, Anderson has 20 caps for the St. Vincent and the Grenadines National Team since his debut in February of 2014, scoring 10 international goals.
ANDY CRAVEN Miller became the second player to join the MLS side after signing with S2 last July, following a stint with SVN Zweibrücken of the German Fourth Division. He made one appearance for S2, a 4-0 shutout victory over Arizona United SC on July 12, before undergoing successful thumb surgery on his right hand on July 28. Miller was a Second Round selection for Seattle in the 2015 MLS SuperDraft after a record-setting career at Northwestern University.
OALEX ANDERSON
play, and Andy is a true example of that concept,” Lagerwey said in June.
“It’s exciting to see our development system at work in signing one of our standout S2 players to the First Team,” said Lagerwey. “Oalex has a lot of potential, which he showed last season, and we’re happy to have him join the senior squad.”
“Tyler has great potential as a goalkeeper and showed promise in
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2016 SEATTLE SOUNDERS FC PLAYERS NAME AGE Emir Alihodzic* 22 Tony Alfaro 22 Osvaldo Alonso 30 Oalex Anderson 20 Matt Bersano* 23 Andy Craven 24 Jordy Delem 23 Clint Dempsey 33 Brad Evans 31 Michael Farfan 27 Devon Fisher* 22 Oniel Fisher 24 Stefan Frei 30 Erik Friberg 30 Herculez Gomez 34 Andreas Ivanschitz 32 Brandon John* 21 Darwin Jones 24 Joevin Jones 24 Willy Kapawa* 23 Aaron Kovar 22 Damion Lowe 24 Charlie Lyon 24 Victor Mansaray 19 Chad Marshall 31 Zach Mathers* 21 Tyrone Mears 33 Tyler Miller 23 Jordan Morris 21 Michael Nelson* 21 Mark O’Ojong* 18 Jimmy Ockford 23 Carlos Patino* 20 Dylan Remick 25 Cristian Roldan 20 Myron Samuel 23 Amadou Sanyang* 24 Jordan Schweitzer* 21 Zach Scott 35 Nathan Sturgis 28 Nouhou Tolo 18 Román Torres 30 Nelson Valdez 32
General Manager & President of Soccer: Garth Lagerwey Head Coach: Sigi Schmid Sporting Director: Chris Henderson Assistant Coaches: Brian Schmetzer, Tom Dutra, Ante Razov, Djimi Traore, Kurt Schmid S2 General Manager: Andrew Opatkiewicz S2 Head Coach: Ezra Hendrickson
BIRTHPLACE Tulza, Bosnia Michoacan, Mexico San Cristobal, Cuba St. Vincent & Grenadines Chandler, AZ St. Simons Island, GA Fort-de-France, Martinique Nacogdoches, TX Phoenix, AZ San Diego, CA Chesapeake, VA Portmore, Jamaica Altstaetten, Switzerland Lindome, Sweden Oxnard, CA Eisenstadt, Austria Kingstown, St. Vincent Chicago, IL Carenage, Trinidad & Tobago Douala, Cameroon Seattle, WA Kingston, Jamaica St. Charles, IL Freetown, Sierra Leone Riverside, CA Ft. Worth, TX Stockport, England Woodbury, NJ Seattle, WA Austin, TX Douala, Cameroon Yardley, PA Tulua, Colombia Inverness, IL Artesia, CA Layou, St. Vincent Bakau, Gambia Dallas, TX Wailuku, HI Boca Raton, FL Douala, Cameroon Panama City, Panama Caaguazœ, Paraguay
S2 Assistant Coach: Junior Gonzalez Team Administration Director: Grant Clark Team Services Director: Vince Johnson Team Services Coordinator: Kate Norton Manager of Sports Science & Performance: Dave Tenney
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PREVIOUS CLUB Nebraska Omaha Mavericks (NCAA) Cal State – Dominguez Hills Charleston Battery (USL) System 3 FC (St. Vincent & Grenadines) Penn State Nittany Lions (NCAA) North Carolina Tar Heels (NCAA) Club Franciscain (MAR) Tottenham Hotspur (England) Columbus Crew SC D.C. United Timbers 2 (USL) New Mexico Lobos (NCAA) Toronto FC Esbjerg fB (Denmark) Toronto FC Levante (Spain) FC Erzgebirge Aue U-23’s (GER) Washington Huskies (NCAA) Chicago Fire Lion Blesse (CMR) Stanford Cardinal (NCAA) Hartford Hawks (NCAA) Marquette Golden Eagles (NCAA) Sounders FC Academy Columbus Crew SC Duke Blue Devils (NCAA) Bolton Wanderers (England) Northwestern Wildcats (NCAA) Stanford Cardinal (NCAA) Old Dominion Monarchs (NCAA) Rainbow FC (CMR) Louisville Cardinals (NCAA) Kitsap Pumas (PDL) Brown Bears (NCAA) Washington Huskies (NCAA) Rendezvous FC (BRB) Charleston Battery (USL) Denver Pioneers (NCAA) Gonzaga Bulldogs (NCAA) Houston Dynamo Rainbow FC Millonarios (Colombia) Eintracht Frankfurt (Germany)
Strength and Conditioning Coach: Chad Kolarcik S2 Performance and Strength Coach: Jarryd Phillips Sports Science Data Analyst: Ravi Ramineni Director of Sports Medicine: Randy Noteboom Head Athletic Trainer: Chris Cornish
Assistant Athletic Trainers: Paul Lombardo, Aki Tajima S2 Athletic Trainer: Joe Montgomery Head Equipment Manager: Nolan Myer Assistant Equipment Managers: Brett Johnson, Scott Tranilla
*Signed to a S2 Contract
NO. 88 25 6 39 98 99 77 2 3 12 81 91 24 8 9 23 70 17 33 92 11 31 22 80 14 32 4 1 13 36 90 5 95 15 7 97 30 34 20 18 35 29 16
2016 SOUNDERS FC 2 USL REGULAR SEASON SCHEDULE DAY
DATE
OPPONENT
KICKOFF (PT) LOCATION
Fri.
March 25
Sacramento Republic FC
7:30 p.m.
Starfire Stadium
Wed. March 30
Arizona United
7:30 p.m.
Starfire Stadium
Sun. April 3
San Antonio
5:00 p.m.
Starfire Stadium
Tues. April 12
Rio Grande Valley FC
7:30 p.m.
Starfire Stadium
Sun. April 17
Colorado Springs
7:00 p.m.
Starfire Stadium
Tues. April 26
Real Monarchs
6:00 p.m.
Rio Tinto Stadium
Sun. May 1
Oklahoma City Energy FC 7:00 p.m.
Starfire Stadium
Sun. May 8
Tulsa Roughnecks FC
7:00 p.m.
Starfire Stadium
Sat. May 14
Sacramento Republic FC
7:30 p.m.
Bonney Field
Sun. May 22
LA Galaxy II
5:00 p.m.
Starfire Stadium
Thurs. May 26
Portland Timbers 2
7:00 p.m.
Providence Park
Sat. June 4
Orange County Blues FC
7:00 p.m.
Anteater Stadium
Thurs. June 9
Whitecaps FC 2
7:30 p.m.
Starfire Stadium
Tues. June 14
Portland Timbers 2
7:00 p.m.
Merlo Field
Sun. June 26
Swope Park Rangers FC
5:00 p.m.
Starfire Stadium
Sat. July 2
Sacramento Republic FC
8:00 p.m.
Bonney Field
Wed. July 6
St. Louis FC
5:00 p.m.
World Wide Technology Soccer Park
Sun. July 10
Colorado Springs
5:00 p.m.
Starfire Stadium
Sat. July 16
Arizona United
7:30 p.m.
Peoria Sports Complex
Sun. July 24
Portland Timbers 2
5:00 p.m.
Starfire Stadium
Mon. August 1
Real Monarchs
7:30 p.m.
Starfire Stadium
Sat. August 6
Whitecaps FC 2
3:00 p.m.
Thunderbird Stadium
Sat. August 13
Rio Grande Valley FC
5:30 p.m.
RGVFC Stadium
Sat. August 20
San Antonio
5:30 p.m.
Toyota Field
Mon. August 29
Portland Timbers 2
7:30 p.m.
Starfire Stadium
Fri.
Sept. 2
Whitecaps FC 2
7:30 p.m.
Starfire Stadium
Mon. Sept. 5
Whitecaps FC 2
TBD
TBD
Sun. Sept. 11
Oklahoma City Energy FC 4:00 p.m.
Taft Stadium
Sat. Sept. 17
Colorado Springs
6:00 p.m.
Switchbacks Stadium
Sat. Sept. 24
Swope Park Rangers FC
5:00 p.m.
Children’s Mercy Victory Field
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2016 USL TEAM STATS UNF Player
GP MIN G A PTS SHT SOG FC YC RC OG 80 Victor Mansaray 8 576 2 0 4 9 3 16 1 0 0 25 Tony Alfaro 9 810 1 0 2 5 2 6 1 0 0 11 Aaron Kovar 3 148 1 0 2 5 3 2 0 0 0 39 Oalex Anderson 3 120 1 0 2 4 2 0 0 0 0 97 Myron Samuel 6 390 0 2 2 7 3 5 0 0 0 32 Zach Mathers 7 501 0 1 1 12 4 13 1 0 0 91 Oniel Fisher 5 442 0 1 1 4 2 7 2 1 0 36 Michael Nelson 5 450 0 1 1 2 0 1 0 0 0 90 Mark O’Ojong 9 613 0 0 0 5 2 13 3 0 0 99 Andy Craven 7 570 0 0 0 12 4 9 0 0 0 35 Nouhou Tolo 5 450 0 0 0 4 1 4 0 0 0 50 Tobi Jnohope 4 436 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 17 Darwin Jones 5 345 0 0 0 6 1 1 0 0 0 18 Nathan Sturgis 4 311 0 0 0 2 1 4 1 0 0 81 Devon Fisher 7 283 0 0 0 2 1 4 1 0 0 77 Jordy Delem 3 207 0 0 0 2 0 5 0 0 0 15 Dylan Remick 2 180 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 88 Emir Alihodzic 6 163 0 0 0 2 0 4 0 0 0 40 Nick Hinds 2 150 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 42 Handwalla Bwana 4 141 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 12 Michael Farfan 4 104 0 0 0 1 0 2 1 0 0 70 Brandon John 2 98 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 41 Lorenzo Ramos 4 89 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 45 Harrison Kurtz 3 78 0 0 0 3 1 2 0 0 0 Team totals 9 810 5 5 15 92 33 114 11 1 0 Opponent totals 9 810 13 3 29 117 44 137 21 0 0
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 1 Tyler Miller 22 Charlie Lyon Team totals Opponent totals
GP 5 4 9 9
MIN 450 360 810 810
GA 6 7 13 5
SV 22 9 31 28
SV% .746 .562 .705 .848
GAA 1.20 1.75 1.44 0.56
W-L-D 1-2-2 0-3-1 1-5-3 5-1-3
SO 2 0 2 5
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HEAD COACH EZRA HENDRICKSON
Ezra Hendrickson initially joined Sounders FC as an Assistant Coach on January 20, 2009, after completing a 14-year professional career, including 12 seasons in Major League Soccer. He is now the Head Coach of Sounders FC 2, the club’s USL PRO team. Hendrickson played parts of eight seasons for Sigi Schmid, including three in Columbus prior to his retirement. Hendrickson appeared in 266 regular season matches with 225 starts. Playing defense, he scored 23 goals and added 30 assists. He also played in 32 postseason games with five goals and three assists. Hendrickson was a member of three MLS Cup championship teams, winning two with Schmid. Together, they won the 2002 MLS Cup with the Los Angeles Galaxy and the 2008 MLS Cup in Columbus. Hendrickson was also with the champion D.C. United team in 2004. A native of the island of St. Vincent in the Caribbean, Hendrickson began his career in 1997 with the New York MetroStars, before joining the Galaxy
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later that season. He totaled six seasons in Los Angeles, where he won the 2000 CONCACAF Champions Cup, scoring two goals in a 3-2 victory, and the 2001 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, scoring one goal in a 2-1 victory. He was named Galaxy’s Most Valuable Player for the 2001 season. Hendrickson went to Dallas in 2003 and began the next season with the A-League’s Charleston Battery before joining D.C. United for its run to the 2004 MLS Cup. After starting all 31 appearances in 2005 for Chivas USA, Hendrickson was acquired by Columbus in early 2006. An All-American and business administration major at Drake University, Hendrickson first played professionally with New Orleans of the USISL Select League (1995-96). After earning his first international cap in 1995, he served 12 years as captain of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines national team. Hendrickson earned his U.S. Soccer “A” Coaching License in December of 2008. He is a resident of Layou, St. Vincent, and has two daughters, Xavia and McKenzie.