MLS Playoffs: Sounders Sad To See First Season End

HOUSTON, Texas- The Seattle Sounders had their first year as an MLS club come to a close on Sunday night in Houston thanks to an overtime strike from Brian Ching.

The loss will certainly be a hard one to take for a franchise that was hoping to play in the MLS Cup final at their home stadium, but after the match veteran goalkeeper Kasey Keller and head coach Sigi Schmid showed a lot of pride in what they were able to accomplish this year.

"I'm proud of what this team has done and what this organization has done in its first year,"Schmid said. "This isn't '98 when the league is in its infancy and you're an expansion team, so you're really not that far behind the curve. I think to have won an Open Cup, to have a winning record in the season, to have been two points away from the Supporters' Shield, and to have lost to a team that has been the dominant team in the playoffs is a pretty proud moment for a young expansion team."

Still, Schmid was hoping for better."We don't want mediocrity," he said. "We don't want to accept mediocrity. Our goal is always to win a championship, and the sting of today will hopefully help us as we move forward into next year."

Keller was likewise disappointed in the loss, but like his coach was already looking forward to next season. "We're pretty happy," Keller said of Seattle's first season. "It's not real easy right now, because we felt we could''ve won the whole thing. But at the same time, we won the Open Cup, we attributed ourselves really well. The city was phenomenally behind us, and now we have to take the pill of not winning this tie and go out and spend the offseason thinking how we’re going to make it better."

Allen Ramsey, Goal.com

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