On the left hand under the glove that made nine saves on Saturday in a 2-1 upset win over LAFC in the Western Conference Semifinal, Seattle Sounders goalkeeper Stefan Frei has two stars tattooed between his thumb and pointer finger. On a body covered in art, those two small pieces are some of the most special.
Frei inked the first after the Sounders won their first MLS Cup trophy in 2016, a match in which he was named MVP and pulled off the greatest save in title game history. He added the second just three years later when Seattle earned its second star of its own.
Now, with the Sounders just two wins away from their third league championship, Frei is fully locked in and playing, as he historically has, his best goalkeeping of the year.
“I don’t want to get too emotional with him here, but we’ve been teammates for a long time,” said Jordan Morris, who has suited up alongside Frei for the last nine years. “Stef has saved us countless, countless times. He’ll be the first one to say that it’s a team effort and that the guys in front of him do a great job, which they do, but he’s saved us so many times and helped us win so many championships. Today, that was on full display.”
It wasn’t just the number of saves that Frei made on Saturday, although nine is impressive in its own right. It was the myriad ways in which he stifled a lethal LAFC attack and the timeliness of his stops to keep the Sounders in the game.
“I’m always reactionary,” said Frei. “I’m not going to influence how the opponent is going to shoot. I just have to react. It was good that I found a way into the game, and when the balls came my way, I felt good about it and was able to relax and get good reads and make the saves. We contested everything. We didn’t allow them to get off great shots.”
Frei and the Sounders limited LAFC to just one goal on 26 total shots and 10 on target. Frei prevented one full Expected Goal against a team that had scored 63 in 34 matches this year.
When Seattle won Concacaf Champions League in 2022, Frei earned his flowers. He was named to the tournament’s Best XI, the Best Goalkeeper and Best Player. But somewhat incredulously, despite being No. 2 all time in MLS clean sheets, one particular domestic honor has always eluded him.
“How that guy hasn’t won Goalkeeper of the Year is a travesty,” said Sounders Head Coach Brian Schmetzer. “It’s a travesty and a mistake. If people don’t want to get on the bandwagon, that’s your choice. My belief, my opinion, is that guy is the best shot-stopper in the league, bar none.”
Morris echoed the sentiment.
“[Frei is] the best goalie in the league in my opinion,” said Morris, “and we’re lucky to have him back here.”
The next challenge for Frei & Co. comes next Saturday when they head back to Southern California for the Western Conference Championship, roughly 10 miles south of where they won this past weekend. Seattle will visit the LA Galaxy (7 p.m. PT; Watch on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV, 93.3 KJR FM, El Rey 1360AM), a team that scored the third-most goals in the league this year (69) and just put six past Minnesota United in the Western Conference Semifinal.
By virtue of upsets in the East, the Sounders know that a win in Carson, Calif., means that Lumen Field will host MLS Cup. A little more than five years after capturing the 2019 crown in Seattle, Frei will be looking to add a third star to that talented hand of his.
“When the guys are working so hard, you spend so much time with this group and you really care for them,” he said. “When you see everybody put it all on the line, you want them to get rewarded. Sometimes it doesn’t happen, so for today for us to get rewarded, it feels really good. Every player deserves it.”
