Originally published Sunday, June 29, 2008 at 12:00 AM

Seattle, Montreal tie each other up

It looked as if Seattle Sounders forward Andre Schmid would make amends for a point-blank miss in a scoreless tie against Portland in the...

By MATT MASSEY

Special to The Seattle Times

TUKWILA — It looked as if Seattle Sounders forward Andre Schmid would make amends for a point-blank miss in a scoreless tie against Portland in the season opener.

But the Sounders couldn't close the deal Saturday night.

Schmid gave Seattle a chance at victory with a goal in the 80th minute, but the Montreal Impact responded four minutes later and salvaged a 1-1 tie at Starfire Sports & Entertainment Complex in front of 3,004 fans.

It was a frustrating result for the Sounders (4-2-7, 19 points) as the team missed a chance to keep pace with the Timbers (5-5-6, 21 points) in third place in the United Soccer Leagues (USL) First Division standings.

Montreal moved to 4-6-3 with 15 points.

Schmid, who made a rare start, gave Seattle its 1-0 lead in the 80th minute on a pass from Sebastien Le Toux after Le Toux took a pass on Leighton O'Brien's quick free kick from 30 yards out.

Schmid knocked the ball in with his left foot from eight yards away near the left post for his first goal of the season. Schmid hit the shot into the middle of the net with Montreal's goalkeeper, Matt Jordan, drawn to the left post.

The Impact drew even on Pat Leduc's header from a corner kick by Rocco Placentino in the 84th minute. The goal was the first given up by Sounders goalkeeper Chris Eylander in 383 minutes.

The Impact are 4-0-1 overall and 2-0-1 in league since John Limniatis took over as head coach June 10, replacing Nick De Santis. Limniatis' team have outscored opponents 9-1 during his five-game stint.

Both teams had many chances in the first half. Josh Gardner pounded a 19-yard shot in the 14th minute, forcing Montreal goalkeeper Matt Jordan to come flying out with a two-fisted save.

Before that O'Brien made Jordan tip away a free kick from 25 yards out just outside the right post.

Seattle outshot the Impact 6-3 in the first half.

Starting defender Zach Scott sat out for the Sounders with a one-game suspension for accumulation of yellow-card points.

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