CHESTER, Penn. – With just 10 minutes left in regulation and the score tied at 1-1 in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup final, Zach Scott laid in a heap at the top of Seattle’s box. It’s not often that he comes out on the losing end of collisions, but he took a knock to the knee, leaving him in obvious pain as Seattle went on the attack.
Sounders FC trainer Randy Noteboom hurried out on the field on the next dead ball and was soon joined by the stretcher crew in Philadelphia. After a few moments of consternation, he waved them off, though, and walked off the field under his own strength. He was determined to finish the game and do everything in his power to finish the game. After all, this was a championship game.
“Anybody else on the team would have done exactly the same. We were down to our last sub. I’m going to push through it,” Scott said, his left knee and right ankle covered in ice bags as he hobbled back to the team bus after Seattle won 3-1 in extra time to hoist the Open Cup for the fourth time in club history. “You’ve got a chance to win a trophy and that’s something you don’t get very often. You’re going to do whatever it takes to be on the field and win the game.”
Scott wasn’t 100 percent in that final 40 minutes, but everything he had left in reserves was spent on keeping Philadelphia from finding the net. That resiliency and resolve has been a hallmark for Scott throughout his 13 seasons in Seattle with the Sounders at the USL and MLS levels.
It’s the same resolve that earned him a roster spot with the Sounders under Brian Schmetzer out of an open tryout in 2002. The same grit that helped Seattle win USL championships in 2005 and 2007. The toughness that earned Scott a spot on the MLS roster in 2009 and put him on the podium to host the Open Cup title in 2009, 2010 and 2011.
Staying on the field and fighting to the final whistle was a testament to Scott’s ongoing legacy with the Sounders. It came as no surprise to his teammates that when the referee pointed to the center circle after 120 minutes, Scott was still on the field raising his arms in triumph.
“He likes playing injured. He likes to put himself on the brink of collapse. He loves that,” smiled Sounders FC captain Brad Evans. “He relishes these opportunities to come into tournaments and battle until the end. He’s a guy that we look up to and somehow he’s gotten better every year as he’s gotten older. It’s pretty incredible.”
His tenacity and determination embodied the approach of the Sounders as they sought the first trophy available in the 2014 season. Seattle battled from a goal down at halftime to equalize the match, held off a late Philadelphia attack in regulation, then pounced in overtime to earn a 3-1 win.
“It’s kind of been our MO all year that we’ve been able to dig deep and fight back. I don’t think anybody hung their heads and looked at it like we were going to come out of here with anything less than a victory,” Scott said. “Hats off to everybody who stepped on that field. There were a lot of guys who were hurting, but every guy gave it their all from minute zero to minute 120.”
The foursome of Scott, Evans, Leo Gonzalez and Osvaldo Alonso now have four medals celebrating Open Cup championships, the lone continuous players from the 2009 championship team. For Scott, that championship came as he approaches a personal milestone – Tuesday’s match was his 299th appearance for Seattle in the USL and MLS.
“That’s a lot of games,” he said, each one seemingly running through his head as he spoke. “I’ve been so fortunate to play with so many good players. To be able to step on that field with the guys that I do, I never, in my wildest dreams imagined at this point in my career that I’d still be doing what I’m doing. I’m very happy and very fortunate and very blessed to be where I am.”
