Originally published Saturday, June 21, 2008 at 12:00 AM

Seattle squanders chances with scoreless tie against Miami

The Sounders dominated the scoring chances in both halves, but came away even at Starfire Sports Complex on Friday.

Special to The Seattle Times

TUKWILA — It will be recorded in the USL standings as another scoreless tie, but the Seattle Sounders deserved much better against the Miami FC Blues on Friday.

The Sounders dominated the scoring chances in both halves, but came away even at Starfire Sports Complex on Friday.

The game marked the sixth consecutive shutout for Miami FC and goaltender Josh Saunders and came after Josh Gardner just missed on two golden opportunities for the Sounders.

The first came on a hard shot Saunders blocked with his chest in the first half and the second came when he had Saunders beat but hit the post in the 83rd minute.

"We had our chances, but I think we were a little rusty tonight," Gardner said. "I talked to Saunders after the game and he said I had him beat. It was just a little unlucky."

Roger Levesque, who sat out the first half, also had a great chance but his header was touched by Saunders just enough to knock it wide.

Levesque, who has been sidelined with an ankle injury, aggravated the same ankle late in the game.

"He's backtracked big-time," Seattle coach Brian Schmetzer said of Levesque's status. "I didn't see the play, but I just know he was in a lot of pain when he came off the field and it was the same ankle that was injured before."

The Sounders play Hollywood United in a nonleague game Tuesday and then return to USL play against the Montreal Impact at Starfire on June 28.

The tie leaves the Sounders at 4-2-6 while Miami stands at 3-6-6.

"That's a good team," Schmetzer said of Miami. "The clean sheet for them tonight was more a function of our being rusty. We just couldn't get in sync in the offensive third."

Schmetzer said Levesque's return provided a spark for his team even though the Sounders didn't score.

"The whole second half I thought we were better," Schmetzer said. "Gardner hit the post, Roger's header was a great save and couple of other half chances here or there. That was the story of the game."

It was a rough and tumble game in front of 2,541. There were a total of five yellow cards issued.

The low-scoring contest wasn't completely unexpected since the teams battled to a scoreless tie earlier in 2008.

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