TUKWILA - Bellingham United showed its grit and determination in a 4-2 win over the Seattle Sounders academy on Saturday April 7, at  the Starfire Sports Complex.

            United went down a goal in the first half, but fought hard to equalize before halftime. 

            Head coach Lance Calloway again stressed that the win wasn’t priority one since it is still preseason.  He said before the game that he wanted to see his team be aggressive from the start, to not let them have any chances.

            The team started off great and didn’t score solely because the Sounders keeper played a phenomenal first half.  A fully stretched out diving save was needed on a few occasions to keep the home team in the game.

            United’s defense was broken down eventually though.

            “I’m a little upset about the goals we gave up,” Calloway said. “We can’t be ball watchers, we should know better than that.”

            Bellingham United didn’t allow many chances after that, but would capitalize on one of their own right before halftime.

            Joel Grossman put himself in the right spot on a corner and had a beautiful diving header to tie the game.

            The second half would be much better played by United.  The team came out quick and scored an early goal to take the lead.  Tyler Bjork took the ball from a Sounders player, turned and shot from outside the box.

            “We were a lot more composed today,” Bjork said. “Yesterday we played a little more frantic, but you can see that we’re starting to learn each other more.”

            Bjork assisted on the third goal.  He fought to get the ball at the end line, passed it back it Kellan Brown who put it in.  That goal would retake the lead for United as the Sounders had scored on a scramble in the box earlier.

            Brown scored again to put the game out of reach for the Sounders and the team finished the game strong. The play started to open up as United found a way to play over the top and get players in behind to attack. 

Calloway had been talking with the team about doing just that.

            “We started to create more in the second half,” Calloway said. “We played more of the way we have been working on in practice.”

            Bellingham United is now 2-0-0 in preseason and will play its next two games at WCC to prepare for the upcoming PCSL season.