Issaquah resident takes pitch with Sounders FC players | Community sports news

Published 3:05 pm Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Issaquah resident Brian Gordon has been a season ticket holder for Sounders FC since before the team even joined MLS.

He attends every match with his daughter Rachel Solem, an Issaquah High School freshman and last year, won an opportunity to meet and play with three Sounders players after practice through the Washington Lottery’s “Man of the Match” promotion.

On Tuesday, Gordon was on hand at Starfire in Tukwila with his daughter and fellow Issaquah resident and boss Paul Algate to claim his prize, meeting Sounders FC players Michael Gspurning, David Estrada and Roger Levesque.

The trio spent time taking shots at Gspurning and Gordon even got in goal while Estrada and Levesque fired off some shots of their own.

“We had a blast,” Gordon said after the session. “It was awesome, we got to see the locker room and getting to take some shots was just great.”

Estrada, a 24-year-old forward from Salinas, Calif. and UCLA, said the opportunity to interact with some the most passionate fans in the league is always a pleasure.

“One of the things about this club is we have a great organization from the people in the front office to the players and coaches and obviously to our great fans as well,” Estrada said. “They do an awesome job screaming their lungs out for 90 minutes and we love that and appreciate it so much.”

Gordon and Algate both coach youth soccer with Issaquah Soccer Club and played in recreational leagues until recently. All three are die-hard Sounders fans and Gordon said the choice of who to bring was an easy one.

“We go to all the matches together, so I would have been killed if I didn’t bring her (Rachel),” he said.