SOUNDERS WEEKLY RELEASE (Sounders Home Game on Monday vs. Minnesota is Mascots Night ) This Week: The Seattle Sounders return home for a home game on Monday, August 20 against Western Conference opponent Minnesota Thunder. Game time is 7 pm at Seattle Memorial Stadium. This game is also the Third Annual Mascot Night. Area mascots including Blitz (Seattle Seahawks) and Squatch (Seattle Supersonics) will participate in the halftime game. The first 250 fans through the gates on Monday will receive a Sporthaus Schmetzer mouse pad courtesy of Walter Schmetzer. Sounders leading scorer Leighton O'Brien (yellow card points) is suspended for the Minnesota game along with defender Scott Jenkins (yellow card points). The Sounders lost all three games on their most recent road trip. Seattle dropped games to Milwaukee (3-0) on Wednesday, Rochester (2-1) on Saturday and Montreal (2-1 in overtime) on Sunday. Forward Brian Ching who was called up to the Sounders from the Los Angeles Galaxy (MLS) scored both of the Sounders goals on the trip. Goalkeeper Rich Cullen saw his first action of the A-League regular season in Montreal. 2001 Western Conference Standings as of 8/15/01 Wins LossesTies BP PointsGames Remaining Vancouver Whitecaps 12 5 1 6 55 8 Milwaukee Rampage 11 8 1 5 50 6 San Diego Flash 9 11 1 7 44 5 Seattle Sounders 10 9 1 2 43 6 Portland Timbers 9 9 2 4 42 4 El Paso Patriots 8 9 4 4 40 5 Minnesota Thunder 7 13 2 2 32 4 *All teams play a 26 game regular season. Three teams from the conference are guaranteed spots in the playoffs. 12 of 21 teams in the A-League make the playoffs. Minnesota Game Preview (8/20/01) at Seattle Memorial Stadium Minnesota leads the all-time series 4-3, but Seattle has won both meetings earlier this season. In their last meeting, Seattle won 2-1 on July 1 in Minnesota. Peter Hattrup scored the game-winning goal in the 82nd minute. Minnesota's starting goalkeeper is John Swallen and their leading scorer is Amos Magee with 3 goals and 4 assists for 10 points in 19 games played. The Thunder won the 1999 A-League Championship and were runners up in 1998 and 2000. They are coached by Manuel "Buzz" Lagos. Last Game Recap: (@ Montreal 8/12/01) Mauro Biello scored the game-winning goal seven minutes into the second overtime, and the Montreal Impact defeated the Seattle Sounders, 2-1, in a game played Sunday evening at Robillard Stadium in Montreal, Canada. Biello assisted on the other Montreal goal. Seattle's is 3-7 on the road this season with three more regular season games to play. Biello scored a great goal in the second overtime to give Montreal the win. Lloyd Barker had the ball just outside the penalty box area. Barker passed inside the area to Biello who was moving away from the goal. Biello trapped the ball with his back to the goal. Biello then wheeled around and took a hard right-footed shot that beat the Sounders goalkeeper Rich Cullen to his right. Seattle had tied the score at 1-1 when Brian Ching scored his second goal in two games. Ching was in a footrace for a 50-50 ball with the Impact goalkeeper Greg Sutton just inside the penalty box area. Ching got to the ball first. Ching took one dribble and shot. Sutton back peddled, but could not get back in time, and the ball went past his outstretch hands for a goal. Montreal scored first when George Papandreou got an unassisted goal in the 10th minute. Both teams had 28 shots in the game. With the victory, Montreal moves into the third place and a playoff spot in the Northern Conference. The Sounders have loss four of their last five games. Seattle leads the all time series over Montreal 11-3-1. Notable Sounder Stats: All-time 1994 to Present, Seattle has made the playoffs every year, and currently has the 12th and last spot. Sounders Weekly Schedule: Thur., Aug. 16 practice location TBA 7 to 8:30 am Fri., Aug. 17 practice location TBA 7 to 8:30 am Sat., Aug. 18 practice location TBA TBA Sun., Aug. 19 practice location TBA TBA Mon., Aug. 20 vs. Minnesota Thunder 7 pm Seattle Memorial Stadium August 20th game "Digicast" live on www.SeattleSounders.TV The Seattle Sounders soccer matches are "digicast" live on www.SeattleSounders.TV! The next "digicast" game is against Minnesota on Monday, August 20, starting at 7 pm, with the pre-game show beginning at 6:45 pm. Chris Collins will be handling the play-by-play duties. Sounders home games at Seattle Memorial Stadium are "digicast" this season. --www.SeattleSounders.net--