The Seattle Sounders needed to start the way they finished. If they did, they wouldn't feel like they blew a chance to record a home win.

The Sounders turned the heat up offensively in the final 30 minutes on a rainy night, but they settled for a 0-0 tie against the Atlanta Silverbacks in a United Soccer Leagues First Division game before 1,381 fans at Qwest Field last night.

Seattle (1-1-2, five points) outshot the Silverbacks (3-2-2, 11 points) 15-10, but left with an empty feeling.

"I have the sinking feeling that we gave one away," Sounders coach Brian Schmetzer said to his players. "The first half was thumbs down. The second half was thumbs up. The last 30 minutes we were on top of them. But I'm having a hard time feeling like this wasn't a loss."

The Sounders put together one last flurry. Welton made Atlanta goalkeeper Christian Fegler bat away a short shot at the right post in the 87th minute. Roger Levesque kept the pressure on in the 89th minute, forcing Fegler to bat another shot away.

Atlanta's Joe Afful hammered an 18-yard shot off the crossbar in the 61st minute, and the Sounders avoided a costly defensive breakdown by clearing the ball away.

The Sounders' best chance came in the second minute as defender Taylor Graham headed a shot narrowly wide left off a corner kick from C.J. Klaas on the right side.

"I fail to see the reason that I have to come in at halftime and yell before they pick things up," Schmetzer said.

The positive was that Seattle goalkeeper Preston Burpo ran his shutout streak to four matches and 360 minutes. Three of those shutouts were in USL First Division play.

"Preston only had to do one or two things," Schmetzer said of Burpo, who made one save. "Defensively, we were good again."

Notes

• The Sounders are deep into a six-game homestand to begin the 2005 season. Seattle finishes the homestand Wednesday against the Virginia Beach Mariners. The Sounders lead the all-time series with the Silverbacks 8-6-1.

• Ymara Guante scored two goals as the Mile High Mustangs edged the Sounders Women 2-1. Tina Frimpong, a UW product, scored for the Sounders.