By Chelle

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Between the never-ending roar of The Supporters to the non-stop beats being dropped by the Sound Waves, Sounders fans filled the air with constant cheer during the season opener Sunday.

A few lucky fans had pregame field access and spent it hoovering around Sounders goalie Stefan Frei. When asked, a few nine-year old boys went into quite the discussion about how awesome Frei was as a goalie, but really his “cool beard” is what they loved the most. 

The excitement built to a respectful quiet as the MLS Cup was brought onto the field followed by the refs, both teams, and a few lucky youth. Sounders coach Brian Schmetzer continued to peak over his left shoulder into the stands, waiting for the Championship banner to be unfurled, finally giving a respectful head bow and gentle applause as it was revealed.  

Chicago Fire scored at the 46 minute mark of the game and held the lead until the 56 minute mark when Christian Roldan (7) scored a goal, which was overturned by a video assistant referee (VAR) decision.

The Sounders caught fire after that with Jordan Morris (13) of Mercer Island scoring a goal six minutes later off an assist from Roldan. As fans began to think this opener might end as a tie, Morris and Roldan connected again, this time as a header, to score the winning goal at 90 minuted plus 3 minutes (meaning three minutes into injury play). If soccer had a buzzer, this opener for the Sounders was essentially won on it.

Danny Leyva (75), age 16, made his MLS debut and played a solid first half. He is one of the youngest players to sign a contract before the age of 16. He comes to the Sounders from Las Vegas.

Ballard's Handwalla Bwana spent the preseason with the team but was not on the active roster Sunday.

The next home game for the Seattle team that trains in Tukwila is Saturday at 7 p.m. against Columbus Crew SC at CenturyLink Field.