A 90th minute free kick goal from Greg Howes earned the Sounders a nail biting 2-2 draw against the Vancouver Whitecaps at Swangard Stadium in Burnaby, British Columbia Friday night.

Roger Levesque put the Sounders ahead in the 16th minute before the Whitecaps scored two unanswered goals with the second coming from one of their four new signings brought in this week, Alan Marcina.

The new look Whitcaps came out of the gates fast, with two quality chances inside the first minute of the match, but Martin Nash saw his first effort blocked and skied the rebound attempt well over the net.

Taylor Graham was forced into a spot on late challenge to block a Jason Mclaughlin shot just a minute later as the Vancouver squad continued to test the Sounders defense forcing Chris Eylander into a pair of early saves.

Seattle weathered six minutes of early pressure before beginning to create an offensive effort of their own. In the 10th minute Hugo Alcaraz-Cuellar picked out red hot forward Levesque in the 18 yard box, but Whitecaps recently signed goal keeper Lutz Pfannistiel got the better of a fearless challenge at the penalty spot to deny Levesque the header.

In the 16th minute Levesque connected with a long throw in from Kenji Treschuk and headed his third goal in four matches into the back of the Vancouver net.

Vancouver responded to the Seattle goal by turning up the intensity of their attack, but failed to find a cohesion or rhythm to combine with their efforts.

The Sounders retaliated to the Whitecaps intensity by working to release Sebastien Le Toux on the counter attack. His efforts came close on two occasions before the half hour mark, but the Whitecaps defense held firm.

Vancouver looked sure to score in the 38th minute when a free kick was pinballed around in front of Eylander’s goal, but again it was Graham with the right tackle at the right time to clear the danger.

Just a minute later Graham came in a moment late as Jason Jordan slipped behind the backline and stood unmarked at the top of the six yard box. The center official showed no hesitation in pointing to the penalty spot and issuing Graham a yellow card for the late challenge.

Tony Donatelli stepped to the spot and drew the match level in the 42nd minute with a low shot that beat Eylander to the bottom right corner of his goal.

Vancouver punctuated their goal with a series of bone crunching tackles as they attempted to stamp their dominance on the middle of the field.

Donatelli blazed a shot from 22 yards in front of goal just wide in first half stoppage time allowing the Sounders to take the 1-1 draw into the break despite being out shot eight to two.

The second half began where the first left off with Donatelli steamrolling Levesque to the turf moments before Treschuk returned the favor chopping Donatelli down in the middle of their field, earning a yellow card and making a statement to the Whitecaps midfielder.

In the 54th minute Seattle head coach Brian Schmetzer inserted veteran Howes into the line up to replace Leighton O’Brien who had a disappointing evening in comparison to his exceptional form of late.

Five minutes later Vancouver’s Dave Morris made way for Alfredo Valente and Jason Jordan made way so that Marcina could make his Whitecaps debut after being dealt over from Montreal along with Ze Roberto in exchange for Joey Gjertsen and David Testo.

Schmetzer countered by inserting Adam West into the match in place of Noah Merl.

Marcina added an immediate spark to the Vancouver offense, testing Kevin Sakuda who moved to the right side allowing West to play his favored left back position.

Graham nearly gave away the lead in the 68th minute with a weak back pass to Eylander that was intercepted by a streaking Mclaughlin. Eylander did well to slide through the forward and clear the danger.

It was the last touch of the night for Mclaughlin, who made way for another new Whitecaps’ signing Josh Hansen who came from the California Victory in a cash deal earlier in the week.

Nathan Knox came into the match for Josh Gardner in the 73rd minute and Seattle continued to think about the winner.

Just when it looked like the air ad left the match, Marcina put the Whitecaps into the lead in he 85th minute with a tight angle shot from the right hand side of the pitch.

In immediate response, Schmetzer replaced defender Zach Scott with speedy forward Craig Tomlinson.

The Whitecaps continued to pour on the offense as the final moments wore down and they looked like a team playing their way out of a seven match winless streak.

At the very end of stoppage time, Tomlinson earned a free kick 28 yards in front of goal. Le Toux, Alcaraz-Cuellar and Howes stood over the ball. Alcaraz-Cuellar stepped over the ball and Howes blasted a low hard shot that took a bounce into the back of the net.

The final whistle blew immediately on the restart and the teams finished level.

Next up for the Sounders is a home match against the league leading Portland Timbers at Qwest Field on Wednesday August 1st.