Sounders Fans Get First Chance to See Their New Club

Live Blog on Here Tonight Starting at 6.30pm

February 19

History will be made tonight as Sounders FC play their first open door match in the Pacific Northwest. They go to Merlo Field in Portland to play the Pilots and a large contingent from Seattle is bound to follow their side down I-5. For some this is nothing new, Kasey Keller and forward Nate Jaqua are former Pilots players.

While at UP, Keller (1988-91) was a three-time All-American and was named the collegiate goalkeeper of the year in 1991. He is still the school’s all-time leader in career shutouts (43.0) and goals-against average (0.64). In 1988, he helped lead the Pilots to the school’s first ever NCAA College Cup appearance. Portland, which lost to host Indiana in the 1988 semifinals, reached the post season all four seasons with Keller in goal.

“I’ve never been back to play a game since,” said Keller, who played there for the Pilots from 1988-1991. “It’s fun to be back in that situation. I can’t imagine that we won’t have a good crowd out there. It’s going to be a fun thing for Portland, but also for myself and Nate Jaqua.”

Keller Pays Tribute to Clive Charles

Keller’s former coach at Portland was Clive Charles, who led the Portland side from 1986 to 2003 and the women’s team from 1989 to 2003. Charles died of prostate cancer in August 2003. He spoke about going back to play at his former college and how much he will miss Charles.

“I’ve never played there. I’ve trained there a couple of times with the national team. I’ve been able to go back and watch some games every once in a while. A couple of times I’ve been able to show up and watch some of the girls’ games, which coincided with national team games in Portland. But this is the first time I’ve been able to go back in this capacity. I’m pretty excited about it. There’s something not quite right about it not having Clive there. We’re all upset about that.”

Kasey was also well aware that tonight presented the Sounder fans with their first chance to see the side play.

“It’d be great if we saw a bunch of the Seattle fans down there. That would be cool. It’s cool for everybody that it’s kicking off. It’s been here for a while. I signed in August it’s just nice that it’s finally here and getting closer and closer each week.”

Jaqua Two Time All American Returns to Oregon

Jaqua (2000-02) was a two-time All-American for the Pilots. He scored 29 career goals and handed out 22 career assists. His 80 career points rank 10th all-time at the University of Portland, while his 12 game-winners are the third highest. Following his UP career, Jaqua is enjoying a successful run in Major League Soccer. An MLS All-Star with the Chicago Fire in 2006, the Eugene, Oregon, native helped the Fire win the 2006 Lamar Hunt U.S Open Cup championship. Jaqua has made three appearances with the USA National Team.

“It’ll be nice to play at Merlo again. It’s kind of neat that we are doing it,” Jaqua said. “Portland’s got a tremendous tradition. You hear about Kasey a lot, but they’ve produced quite a few good players.”

Special Night for Pilots

The Pilots were led offensively by sophomore Frankie Lopez last season. The attacking midfielder landed on the All-West Coast Conference First Team after notching a team-high 12 goals. Junior midfielder Collen Warner, who led the league with eight assists, also earned first-team all-conference recognition. Sophomore goalkeeper Austin Guerrero led the league in saves for the second consecutive season. Guerrero made 91 stops, posted three shutouts and earned all-league honourable mention.

Pilots assistant coach Rob Baarts was a teammate of Keller’s at UP for three seasons. He told their website, “It’s always a great opportunity for the University to host a Major League Soccer team at Merlo Field, but to have Kasey Keller and Nate Jaqua returning to The Bluff will make this a special night. Both Kasey and Nate have played all across the world and now they’ll be returning to where it began. They’re both a major part of the rich tradition of soccer here at UP.”

Live Blog from the Game

Please bookmark this page, Prost Amerika will be blogging live from Portland, and you will be allowed to comment.

For the first time ever, Prost Amerika will allow its viewers to post their views on the match as we go live for Sounders FC’s first ever match in the Pacific Northwest. If you can’t be there, be here.

So please click on Pilots v Sounders blog and talk Sounders FC. No need to log on, or register. Just post away. Please don’t use naughty words though.

We should be here live from Portland around 6.35 pm, and we’ll enable the comments tomorrow morning too, so you can comment on our match preview.

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