Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Barrett doesn’t leave anything to chance

Tips in Dempsey’s shot for Sounders’ winner

Mark Moschetti Associated Press

SEATTLE – The shot by Clint Dempsey didn’t need any help going into the net. Chad Barrett wasn’t taking any chances.

Barrett scored 30 seconds into second-half stoppage time to give the Seattle Sounders a 2-1 comeback victory over the New York Red Bulls on Sunday.

Marco Pappa tied it for the Sounders (8-3-2) in the 69th minute.

Seattle defender Tyrone Mears helped set up the winning goal.

Playing near the goal line on the right side, he floated a ball across the penalty area. Dempsey got a left foot to it and sent it toward the far post, where Barrett was waiting unmarked to tip it in off his right toe.

“The whole reason I wanted to get my toe on it and didn’t head it is that I wasn’t sure,” said Barrett, who had just come on for Pappa at the start of the 89th minute. “At the last second, as the ball was coming across, I could kind of see that it’s going in. As a forward, I can tell when it’s going in and when it’s not.

“But there’s always that chance the ball might hit the post or someone might be on the other side of me that I’m not too sure of. I just did it to make sure we got the three points. I knew I was onside, but it was going in anyway.”

Barrett has three goals this season.

The goal originally was credited to Dempsey, who still picked up an assist and got back onto the scoresheet after two straight games without a point.

Lloyd Sam scored in the 36th minute for New York (4-3-5). He has four goals this season. But it wasn’t enough for the Red Bulls.

The Sounders, who regained the overall league lead with 26 points (D.C. United has 25), lost two games this year when conceding the first goal.

“For our team to show their resiliency and battle back and win in injury time show our team’s character,” Schmid said. “I didn’t think our game was 100 percent sharp today. A little bit of that was fatigue in the third game, playing against a good team and a team that pressed us.”