Leighton O'Brien applies the finishing touch to the Sounders' drive to a third regular season championship in a 1-0 win at Minnesota. O'Brien takes advantage of a miscue in the Thunder defense in the 18th minute and finishes low and to the far post. Seattle goes 15-3-3 following a 1-3-3 start. It also won regular season titles in 1994 and 2002.

A pent-up demand to see the Sounders is obvious as big crowds turn-out for preseason games in various communities. Attendance is 6,614 at Everett Memorial Stadium for Seattle's 1-0 win over L.A. Altogether, over 19,000 watch exhibitions in Everett, Yakima, Burien and Tacoma.

Fort Lewis takes over first place in the state league following a 7-0 beating of Buchan, coupled with Loyal Realty's 3-1 loss to Seattle Hungarians. Geoff Wall nets a hat trick for the unbeaten Rangers (3-0-2). Goals from Tommy Major and Les Mueller in the final five minutes are the difference for the Hungarians.

Two well-known Eastside youth coaches are marketing a new product, Insta-Bench, a lightweight, collapsible, fold-out bench made mainly of aluminum that seats up to six people on the sidelines. It's the creation of Chance Fry, former Sounder and FC Seattle forward and now coaching director at Eastside FC, and Tom Bunnell, who coaches at both Eastside FC and Issaquah High School. A third partner, Rob Green, joins later in the year to help build the business plan. At the 2005 USYSA Convention, Insta-Bench is recognized as the best new product.

A tradition begins in the aftermath of Seattle's 4-1 victory over Vancouver at Swangard Stadium in Burnaby, B.C. Following the A-League win over the arch-rival 86ers and snapping a string of four road losses in a row, Sounders captain Neil Megson throws open the locker room door and leads the players and coaches in banging the walls and singing a raucous rendition of Jingle Bells to celebrate.

A yet-to-be-named women's professional league will launch in spring 2013 in eight cities, including Seattle. Bill Predmore, president and founder of digital marketing agency POP, will own the team. "Seattle has a long history of enthusiastic support for professional soccer, which we hope will provide us with a strong base of fans for the new women's club," says Predmore. Sounders Women, which did not pay players, will continue operating a W-League team.