Editor's Note: With 2016 winding to a close, SoundersFC.com is taking a look back at the top 10 plays of the Seattle Sounders' 2016 season. We'll release the full list over the course of the week, with the final play being announced on Dec. 31. Take a look at the Honorable Mentions and the full list as it's released.
The Sounders will kick off the 2017 season on Saturday, March 4 against the Houston Dynamo at BBVA Compass Stadium.
The Seattle Sounders convincingly won 3-0 at home versus FC Dallas in the first leg of the Western Conference Semifinals, but a desperate FCD threw the bus at Seattle in the second leg in Frisco, Texas.
Tesho Akindele gave the hosts a 1-0 lead just 25 minutes in, but Seattle weathered the first-half storm and went to halftime with a 3-1 lead on aggregate. Sounders head coach Brian Schmetzer said before the match he was going to implore his team to find an all-important away goal, and that’s exactly what Seattle did.
In the 54th minute, Erik Friberg played a through ball on the right side that was too far ahead for Tyrone Mears. The Sounders’ fullback didn’t bail on the play, though, and brilliantly swiped the ball from Walker Zimmerman near the right side of the 18-yard-box.
Mears drove toward goal and sent in a perfect low cross to the far post and onto the feet of Nicolas Lodeiro, who slid and slotted the ball into an open net. Mears’ effort and Lodeiro’s finish all but sent Seattle to the Western Conference Championship.
