Another day, another shutout. During the club's run of eight consecutive matches without a loss, the past four contests have featured a Seattle clean sheet. On Saturday afternoon, the Sounders reached 400 consecutive minutes without allowing a goal for the first time in club history.
"When we made that announcement in the locker room, the first thing [Stefan Frei] did was point at all of his teammates and say, 'No, it's you guys, it's you guys, because that's the kind of character Stef has," Head Coach Brian Schmetzer said. "Certainly when you talk about scoreless streaks, it goes to the goalkeeper. When you talk about scoring streaks - Dempsey's 50th goal for this club, that's another individual stat on the attacking end - the team, front to back, defended well."
The streak began in the 50th minute of the epic July 19 comeback against D.C. United. After trailing 3-0, the Sounders stormed back with a 4-0 run in the final 40 minutes of the match. Seattle hasn't allowed a single goal since.
July 23 - Sounders 3, San Jose 0
July 29 - Sounders 0, LA Galaxy 0
August 5 - Sounders 4, Minnesota United 0
August 12 - Sounders 1, Sporting KC 0
Tyler Miller was in the net for the D.C. United match, so he's attributed to the first 40 minutes. Frei's four ensuing shutouts cover the remaining 360 minutes.
"It's a total team effort," Frei said after the match. "The record is only achievable as a team. Everybody on the squad deserves full credit."
An interesting tidbit, Frei's streak of 360 scoreless minutes is nearly 100 minutes off the individual record set by Kasey Keller in 2009. So how does Keller have the individual record, but it's a different number than the team record, which was set in 2010?
In the middle of his streak, he received a red card.
After opening the inaugural 2009 campaign with three shutouts, Keller was ejected in the 29th minute for stopping a scoring opportunity. Ben Dragavon allowed a goal in the 1-0 loss to Kansas City, and Chris Eyelander was in the net for the following match while Keller served a one-game suspension, which was a 2-0 defeat to Chivas USA.
Upon his return, Keller recorded an additional shutout. His streak was snapped in the 68th minute with a goal by Chicago midfielder Marco Pappa.
This puts Frei 98 minutes shy of breaking Keller's individual mark. He'll look close the gap against Minnesota United next Sunday at CenturyLink Field.
