Draft:1974 Seattle Sounders season

The 1974 season was the first season for the inaugural iteration of the Seattle Sounders. The club played in the original North American Soccer League, then the top tier of soccer in the United States. The Sounders played their home matches at Seattle Memorial Stadium near the Lower Queen Anne neighborhood of Seattle. The Sounders played in the Western Division where they finished in third place with 10 wins, seven losses and three draws. The Sounders failed to qualify for the playoffs.

John Rowlands lead the Sounders with 10 goals during league play.

Background
In early 1973, there was a proposal to introduce a new Seattle expansion team into the North American Soccer League as part of an emerging Western Division. This division was planned to include cities like Los Angeles, San Jose, and Vancouver. On December 11, 1973, the league officially granted an expansion franchise to Seattle, and it would be owned by a consortium of local businesspeople led by Walter Daggatt, who was associated with the Alpac Corporation. The team was scheduled to compete in the Western Division and share Memorial Stadium with other newly established teams in Los Angeles, San Francisco (later relocated to San Jose), and Vancouver.

To choose a name for the Seattle team, a naming contest was conducted in January 1974. From a list of six finalists which included Cascades, Evergreens, Mariners, Schooners, Sockeyes, and Sounders, the winning name was "Sounders." It received the most support from the public, garnering 32 percent of the 3,735 votes cast, and was announced as the official team name on January 21.

Standings

 * Western Division

Match results
June 15, 1974	NASL	1974	Baltimore Comets	1 - 5	Seattle Sounders	Memorial Stadium		12681	1 June 22, 1974	NASL	1974	Philadelphia Atoms	0 - 2	Seattle Sounders	Memorial Stadium		13876	1 June 29, 1974	NASL	1974	Dallas Tornado	0 - 0 (SO)	Seattle Sounders	Texas Stadium		5798	1 June 30, 1974	NASL	1974	San Jose Earthquakes	2 - 2 (SO)	Seattle Sounders	Spartan Stadium		13638	1 July 6, 1974	NASL	1974	Seattle Sounders	1 - 0	St. Louis Stars	Memorial Stadium		14335	1 July 13, 1974	NASL	1974	Dallas Tornado	1 - 0	Seattle Sounders	Memorial Stadium		14876	1 July 19, 1974	NASL	1974	Miami Toros	2 - 1	Seattle Sounders	Miami Orange Bowl		9021	1 July 21, 1974	NASL	1974	New York Cosmos	2 - 1	Seattle Sounders	Downing Stadium		4326	1 July 26, 1974	NASL	1974	Los Angeles Aztecs	1 - 5	Seattle Sounders	Memorial Stadium		14876	1 Aug. 7, 1974	NASL	1974	Seattle Sounders	(SO) 0 - 0	St. Louis Stars	Busch Memorial Stadium		5500	1 Aug. 9, 1974	NASL	1974	Rochester Lancers	0 - 3	Seattle Sounders	Memorial Stadium		11282	1 Aug. 11, 1974	NASL	1974	Seattle Sounders	2 - 1	Vancouver Whitecaps	Memorial Stadium		14876	1

Source

Appearances and goals
Numbers after plus-sign(+) denote appearances as a substitute.




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