With National Team stars gone, Sounders Women concentrate on making playoffs

The flash and fanfare surrounding the Sounders Women and the influx of national team players has subsided as that group heads over to London for the Olympics. Meanwhile the club is looking to hang on to second place and a W-League playoff spot.

The Sounders Women split their matches in Colorado last weekend, dropping a 1:0 contest against the Rapids before taking a 4:1 win over the Rush.

Now the Sounders find themselves in second place in the Western Division with a 7-2-1 record, a full 9 points behind the undefeated Pali Blues. Read a league-wide update here.

May 2012
WL	Sun	May 27	7:00 PM ET	Sounders Women	2-0	Whitecaps FC	Percy Perry Stadium
WL	Thu	May 31	10:00 PM ET	Rush	1-2	Sounders Women	Starfire Sports Complex Stadium
June 2012
WL	Fri	Jun 1	10:00 PM ET	Sounders Women	1-0	Victoria	Royal Athletic Park
WL	Mon	Jun 4	10:30 PM ET	Rapids Women	0-3	Sounders Women	Starfire Sports Complex Stadium
WL	Fri	Jun 8	10:00 PM ET	Whitecaps FC	0-0	Sounders Women	Starfire Sports Complex Stadium
WL	Sun	Jun 17	7:00 PM ET	Los Angeles	0-4	Sounders Women	Starfire Sports Complex Stadium
WL	Wed	Jun 20	10:00 PM ET	Pali	2-0	Sounders Women	Starfire Sports Complex Stadium
WL	Sun	Jun 24	4:00 PM ET	Santa Clarita	0-4	Sounders Women	Starfire Sports Complex Stadium
WL	Sat	Jun 30	6:30 PM ET	Sounders Women	0-1	Rapids Women	Dick’s Sporting Goods Park
July 2012
WL	Sun	Jul 1	3:00 PM ET	Sounders Women	4-1	Rush	Valor Christian High School Stadium
WL	Fri	Jul 6	10:00 PM ET	Victoria	at	Sounders Women	Starfire Sports Complex Stadium
WL	Wed	Jul 11	10:00 PM ET	Sounders Women	at	Santa Clarita	Valencia High School
WL	Fri	Jul 13	10:00 PM ET	Sounders Women	at	Los Angeles	Occidental College Patterson Field
WL	Sun	Jul 15	6:00 PM ET	Sounders Women	at	Pali	Palisades Charter High School

The Sounders have four matches remaining with Friday’s home match against Victoria standing as the lone Starfire tilt left. Second place would clinch Seattle a playoff spot, but they will want to keep an eye on the two Colorado clubs behind them, both of which have a match in hand.

Megan Rapinoe in the news for coming ‘Out’

One of the Olympians who played with the Sounders this spring, Megan Rapinoe, made international headlines this week for being clear about her sexuality.

 ”For the record: I am gay,” she says. In fact, Rapinoe’s been dating her girlfriend, an Australian soccer player, for three years, and even brought her home to visit her family in Northern California last Christmas.

To be honest I’ve been thinking about it for a while, trying to find a time that works, now leading up to the Olympics, people want to get personal stories,” she says. “Our team in general is in a position where people look up to us and kids look up to us. I embrace that and I think I have a huge LGBT following. I think it’s pretty cool, the opportunity that I have, especially in sports. There’s really not that many out athletes. It’s important to be out and to live my life that way.”

Megan Rapinoe, University of Portland star and Sounders Women player during the influx of Olympic and National Team players this Spring, is in the news for her acknowledgement that she is Lesbian. (Wilson Tsoi)