Sounders
Sounders win fifth straight

By Jim Riley
Special to The Seattle Times

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It isn't quite a mathematical certainty yet, but the Seattle Sounders all but locked up a playoff spot last night with a 3-0 victory over the Puerto Rico Islanders at Qwest Field.

Seattle won its fifth straight game and goaltender Preston Burpo had his eighth shutout of the season to help the Sounders improve to 13-10-4.

The Sounders can guarantee a spot in the postseason with a win against Minnesota (11-9-4) in the season finale at home on Saturday.

Burpo, who has allowed one goal in his last 321 minutes, made some big saves early, and the Sounders dominated play after intermission.

"In the first half, they had some shots. But in the second half, they didn't have anything super dangerous," Burpo said. "The guys in front of me played well, and the boys up front helped out by scoring a couple."

Burpo had four saves in the game and likes the way the Sounders are playing.

"It's great to be in this position," Burpo said. "If we don't make it at this point, we don't deserve it. This winning streak has catapulted us right where we want to be going into the final weekend."

Seattle coach Brian Schmetzer is ecstatic with the streak, especially its timing.

"Five in a row is just a really nice way to end the season," Schmetzer said. "Hopefully we can make it six in a row and take that into the playoffs. We knew this team was capable of playing like this, and we've played really well for the last eight games."

The Sounders didn't come out particularly strong, but Ben Smosa broke a scoreless tie with his second goal of the season in the 44th minute.

"I was going to yell and scream at halftime," Schmetzer said. "But Ben's goal softened it up a little bit, so I just had to raise my voice just slightly to get them motivated to put together a solid performance in the second half.

"Preston had some unbelievable saves in the first half. I can't say enough good things about him. He's done the job all year long."

Weldon, Seattle's leading scorer with 10 goals this season, left the game in the first half with a bruised hip. He is expected to be ready to play on Saturday.

The Sounders made it 2-0 at the 52nd minute on a penalty kick by Roger Levesque after a foul by Alexis Rivera. Craig Tomlinson, Weldon's replacement, scored his first goal of the season to make it 3-0 in the 68th minute.

It was the last game of the season for Puerto Rico, which ends its inaugural season with a record of 5-17-6 and 21 points. The Islanders had six yellow cards in the game, and Mauricio Salles was ejected.

Puerto Rico	0 0 — 0
Seattle	1 2 — 3

1, Smosa (un) 44:00. 2, Levesque 8 (pk) 52:00. 3, Tomlinson 1 (un) 68:00. Cautions — PR: Zuelta 35th minute; Ortiz 38th minute; Rivera 55th minute; Salles 68th minute; Salles 77th minute; Sea: Scott 81st minute. Ejections — PR: Salles. Att — 2,911.

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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