The Sounders finished their preseason schedule tonight with a 1-0 loss to the Colorado Rapids. The lone goal came on a Conor Casey penalty kick in the 38th minute.

A few quotes from coach Sigi Schmid:
On the game: “It’s good because we are able to push guys. The majority of the team went 90 minutes with the exception of (Nathan) Sturgis and (Brad) Evans. That was a positive. I thought we carried the game for most of the time. We gave up a bad goal. It was a bad foul in the box, one that we didn’t need to give away. And outside of that, I don’t think we gave up a whole lot of chances. I felt we were around their goal. I thought we had a lot of good opportunities. I thought Sebastien (Le Toux) was very dangerous for us on his free kicks that he put in from the flanks. I thought those were good opportunities. We were close. Nate (Jaqua) just missed Sanna’s (Nyassi)cross on a diving header in the box. I think we were right around there. They cleared Tyrone’s (Marshall) header back up the line. From that standpoint, I was pleased. I felt we held on to possession for the majority of the game.”
(On first time players pushed to 90 minutes)“I was pretty happy with the fitness. We’ll see how they feel tomorrow. They’ll probably be pretty sore tomorrow, but that was one of the objectives of this week was to make sure that first 90 wasn’t next week. We wanted to make sure the first 90 was now if we could. We had to make some adjustments without (Fredy) Montero here today. Stephen King played a position that he played for the first time all preseason. I thought he looked rather well in that position. I thought Nate Sturgis was very good in the first half, and he had to come out with a quad. So we want to be careful with that.”

On if starting lineup is set: “We got to wait until tomorrow, and wait until the reserve guys play. There are guys that are going to get that opportunity to show what they can do tomorrow. I thought the defensive pairing in the middle was okay. I thought they played fairly well together. The central midfielder pairing we kept together pretty much the whole preseason, so I think their understanding continues to grow. There is still the odd man that can play himself into the position.”

On the backline vs. the Rapids: “I thought Tyrone got better as the game went on. And for Jhon Kennedy Hurtado this was really first test against MLS forwards. Obviously Conor Casey has been a good forward, not only here in MLS, but also overseas, and is a national team guy. He’s been on the national team and the olympic team. You have Omar Cummings, who is one of the fastest forwards in the league. I don’t think you saw Omar’s speed was a problem for us all night. I thought we did a pretty good job of battling Conor. It was good for Hurtado to get that test this week, so it gives him a better idea. He knows who Juan Pablo Angel is, so I’m sure he’ll be ready for that next week.”
(On having a rehearsal for the home opener)“It was good for logistics and the organization because it’s our first game. For me, I’m watching the game and I’m making my mental notes of what’s going on in the game, but I’m also making mental notes of, ‘wait a second, we can’t do this next week. This has got to change. People can’t be standing here.’ Things like that."

Kurt Schmid -- son of head coach Sigi Schmid -- has been named to the Seattle Sounders FC staff as a scout and assistant coach.

“We are very excited to have Kurt join our staff,” FC technical director Chris Henderson said through a news release. “He will be working with the full team on down through the youth and assisting with scouting. Coming from a soccer family and with coaching experience at many levels, he has good knowledge of young players and he will be a big asset for our club.”

Here's the rest of the release:

Schmid will scout players from the youth to international level and coordinate the Match Analysis scouting system. In addition, he will serve as a first team assistant coach to Sigi Schmid, his father and Seattle head coach.

Kurt Schmid was in Trinidad earlier this month, scouting players at the CONCACAF U-20 World Cup qualifying tournament.

For the past three seasons Kurt Schmid has been an assistant coach at the collegiate level, first at Saint Mary’s College, then the past two years at UC Irvine. In 2008, UC Irvine won both the Big West Conference regular season and tournament championship, and the Anteaters earned an NCAA tournament berth. All three were first-time achievements for the UCI program.

Schmid was a member of the Region IV ODP boys coaching staff the past two years and also coached at West Coast FC. Previously he was a coach for South Bay Soccer Club. His coaching career began at South High School in Torrance, Calif.

Schmid, 26 (DOB 3/24/1982), played at Wake Forest and UCLA and was a member of the Bruins’ 2002 NCAA Championship team. He is a graduate of UCLA with a degree in Business-Economics.

Seattle Sounders FC will play MLS Western rival Colorado Rapids behind closed doors tonight at Qwest Field.

“It’ll be a little bit game like, but we won’t put our whole lineup out there," coach Sigi Schmid said. "Obviously we’re trying to go through it from a standpoint of timing; of getting to the stadium at a certain time, of what we go through in the locker room being similar to what we’re going to go through next week."

The Sounders opens MLS regular season play one week from today against the New York Red Bulls. The game is sold out, but will be broadcast on ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes.

This will be the team's 11th preseason game, and they are 7-2-1 so far, including 2-1-1 in Argentina, and 1-1 versus MLS opposition. (They beat the L.A. Galaxy 3-2 and lost to San Jose, 3-2.)