Sounder Luck Will Not Hold; Seattle Kicked From Playoffs -- Foxes Advance After Shootout

Soccer players have a word for it when effort and motivation fall just short of expectations.

Unlucky.

There's a bunch of Seattle Sounders today who are feeling a bit unlucky, even though they can look back at a most fortunate season.

The Sounders, after playing 120 minutes last night just to get into position to advance to the American Professional Soccer League title game, lost in a shootout to Colorado, 2-1, in front of 8,448 fans at Memorial Stadium.

The two-time defending APSL champion Foxes advance to the championship game Oct. 15 in Montreal. Montreal beat Los Angeles last night, also in a shootout, 2-1.

A shootout starts at the 35-yard mark. Five players from each side have five seconds each to run up and shoot. The goalie usually comes out to block.

Robert Lipp, the third of the five Colorado players, scored what stood as the winning goal, a chip shot to the left of Sounder goalie Marcus Hahnemann.

Seattle had two more attempts to tie it, but could not put one past Colorado goalie Mark Dodd.

Seattle's Dick McCormick, who had two goals in the first 90-minute regulation game won by Seattle 4-1, hit the right post.

Jason Dunn, who also had two goals in the first game, hit the left post on his attempt. That sent the Colorado players into celebration.

Double unlucky.

"I had him (Dodd) beat, just past his right leg," said Dunn, a former Seattle Pacific University All-American. "I guess I put too

much bend in it. It was right on the corner of the post. A half inch to the right and it was a goal."

The shootout began with Colorado's Kim Roentved and Seattle's Neil Megson missing right.

Fox midfielder Mark Santel then hit a left side shot to make it 1-0. Sounder forward Gary Heale evened it at 1-1 with a shot that caromed off Dodd into the right side.

Lipp followed with his goal. Seattle's David Hoggan was wide right. Hahnemann blocked Ted Eck's and Jeff Hooker's attempts. The posts stopped McCormick and Dunn.

"We practice that a lot at that end," Sounder Coach Alan Hinton said. "Maybe the fact that they played in more shootouts hurt us a little bit."

The Foxes are 3-0 in shootouts this year while the Sounders are 0-2. Dodd has allowed just four goals in 15 shootout attempts.

"You have to congratulate Colorado," Hinton said. "They're a feisty team. This is their third final. They played very well."

Seattle's 4-1 win in the 90-minute game evened the series at 1-1. Colorado had won Thursday, 2-0. It was the Foxes' first playoff loss in six games over three years.

After a 10-minute rest, the teams played an intense but scoreless 30-minute sudden-death mini-game.

Colorado had two exceptional chances late in the mini-game. Sandel drove a left-foot shot from 17 yards out that hit the crossbar. Eck followed with a missed chip over Hahnemann. It was set up by a pretty bicycle pass from Anthony McCreat.

Unluckiness has no loyalty.

That set up the shootout, although the APSL is considering rule changes next season that might eliminate the format from playoffs.

The Sounders were unmatched in the first half of regulation, putting in two goals, threatening with at least a half dozen other quality chances and outshooting the Foxes, 12-3.

McCormick scored his first goal at the 19-minute mark, a powerful right-footer that sliced to the right of Dodd and into the upper right corner.

A Colorado defender played a role in McCormick's second goal. McCormick, taking the ball from Hoggan, who had three assists, drove another hard right-footer from 25 yards out. Lipp deflected it and Dodd didn't have a chance.

They were only the second and third goals for McCormick all season.

Colorado finally found some aggressiveness in the second half. Lipp set the tone with a rocket shot from 40 yards.

Eck finally scored on a 28-yard free kick, drilling it into the upper right corner.

That seemed to set Seattle off and Dunn simply took over.

With deliberate movement around the net, Hoggan dropped a support pass to Dunn, who found the small gap between the right post and Todd from 20 yards out at 71:02.

Just 64 seconds later, Dunn, coming in from the left side, stroked a hard blast at point-blank range from about seven yards.