Or, perhaps more accurately, another title in the Howes.

Greg Howes, who wasn't even supposed to be in the game as early as he was, started the scoring, then later added an insurance goal as the Sounders won the USL First Division championship on Saturday night at Starfire Sports Complex with a 4-0 rout of the Atlanta Silverbacks.

That made it two titles in the past three seasons for the Sounders, and was the fourth in franchise history.

Subbing into the contest in the 18th minute when starting midfielder Leighton O'Brien had to leave with a pulled groin, Howes put Seattle on the board just before halftime, then sealed the deal with another goal just near the end of the 82nd minute in a game that was played in a constant drizzle.

It was an unexpected ending to what became a sweet homecoming year for Howes, who was the league Rookie of the Year in 2000 when he was with the Sounders before moving on to other teams, and eventually, a solid indoor career.

"The 18th minute, I was just getting a feel for the game, knowing I was probably going to go in during the second half," said, Howes, who was named the title-game Most Valuable Player. "I didn't get much of a warm-up, but I was able to get a feel for it and get a second wind. That (goal) was a huge momentum boost for us."

Hugo Alcaraz-Cuellar, who joined Seattle this year after several seasons with arch-rival Portland, set up Howes’ first goal, then scored the second one himself on a howitzer of a shot from about 30 yards away that left the Silverbacks visibly deflated -- even though they still had 30 minutes to do something about it.

Craig Tomlinson, a long-time fixture on the Sounders roster and a fan favorite for his flair and personality, capped the scoring with a point-blank shot during second-half stoppage time.

And Chris Eylander, the second-year goalkeeper who led the league in wins and saves and had the second-most shutouts, logged another clean sheet. That gave him 16 for the year -- 13 in the regular season, and three more in the playoffs.

"I can't even put it into words. I've never been in a championship like this ever," Eylander said. "Coming in last year, I was just hoping to get a chance to play. This year, I just wanted to build on that. And when things started to click, I knew we had something special."

Seattle, which, at 16-6-6 had the best regular-season record, became just the third Commissioner’s Cup winner (emblematic of regular-season supremacy) to capture the championship in the past 17 years. In 200t, when they beat Richmond in penalty kicks for the title, the Sounders were just the fourth-seeded team in the playoffs.

And it all came after a 1-4-3 start to the season, which eventually became a distant memory, thanks in part to a 14-game unbeaten streak that spanned from late June to late August.

"I forgot that. Do you remember that? I don't," a smiling head coach Brian Schmetzer said of Seattle’s slow start way back in April and May.

What Schmetzer didn’t forget was that the 2005 title was a lot more nerve-wracking with its penalty-kick finish than this one was.

"The result was a bit nicer and kinder to me," Schmetzer said in savoring his second crown." I didn't have to sweat it as long.

"But every championship you win in a great one."

Alcaraz-Cuellar started the play that led to Howes’ first goal with a target ball into traffic in the penalty area. Howes took it on the half-volley, and, with Silverbacks goalkeeper Ryan McIntosh playing just a couple of yards away, ripped a shot that went past McIntosh and flew into the back left corner midway up the net at 44:27. It was the culmination of a first half dominated by the Sounders with a 9-3shot advantage.

Then, midway through the 61st minute, Taylor Graham had control of the ball to the left side of the box. He crossed it out just beyond the restraining arc where Alcaraaz-Cuellar ran onto it and hammered it into the back left corner.

"That second goal killed them, not just because it was 2-0, but … it was such a great goal," Schmetzer said.

Atlanta upped the pressure thereafter, finally bringing in league-leading point scorer and MVP runner-up Daniel Antoniuk off the bench. Eylander punched away two shots in the span of half a minute to preserve the lead and ultimately finished with seven saves on 15 Silverbacks shots.

But Howes erased all doubt at 81:55 when he picked up a loose ball at the top of the box, struck it with the inside of his right foot and watched it curl away from McIntosh and into the back left corner for a 3-0 margin.

"To come back home and share this with family and friends, it couldn’t have been any better,” Howes said. “This is where my roots are and where I grew up and played soccer, and I'm going to be here in the community for many years.":

The Number Four The four-goal win was equal to the largest margin of victory in the history of the league, matching the four-goal decision by the Seattle Storm, no affiliation to the Sounders, in a 5-1 win over the San Jose Earthquakes in the 1988 Western Soccer League championship, the first USL-1 title for the city of Seattle… The victory gave Seattle its fourth USL First Division Championship. The game was their third appearance in the final in the last four years… Alcaraz-Cuellar’s goal was his fourth of the season (second of the playoffs)… Sebastien Le Toux is the fourth player in Sounders history to win the USL-1 MVP honor.

Post-Game Comments

Seattle Sounders midfielder Greg Howes

“Kevin (Sakuda) got the ball out wide up to Hugo and he played a good ball in to me. I was able to knock it down and find the back of the net. It was a huge goal going into half up 1-0. It really changed the game because they had to come out in the second half and attack.”
“Unfortunately for Leighton, he’s our leader out here, he’s been a leader for years here. He pulled his groin and I got in there and was able to get a good finish and send us into halftime. The second half was fun, the last 10 minutes was a party out here up 3-0. I was on the losing end last year. I wouldn’t trade this for anything. To get into the finals isn’t easy, two in a row back-to-back and to be here with my family and my friends and this is my hometown and to be able to bring a championship here to Seattle there’s no feeling like it.”

Seattle Sounders Head Coach Brian Schmetzer

“Our objective in the second half was to come out and not give anything away. That was the obvious way to go. If we get the clean sheet we win, but Atlanta made things very difficult on us in the first 15 minutes of the second half. They put us under pressure and forced Eylander to make some tough saves. The dagger was Hugo’s goal. After that I knew we had them.”
“(Howes) is a veteran guy in this league, he’s won championships indoors. He saw an opportunity and went forward from a midfield position to score that goal and that’s great.”
“(Eylander) should be championship series MVP. We witnessed it tonight. We witnessed it down in Puerto Rico. He’s great.”

Seattle Sounders goalkeeper Chris Eylander

“He hit a real nice volley (forcing my first save). I had to take a sharp step back and lay out. I was just able to get a hand to it and push it over the bar.”
“In the second half most of the saves I had to make were obscured or from tight angles. Atlanta made a really strong push in the second half but it would have taken something really great to beat me from those close angles.”

Atlanta Silverbacks Head Coach Jason Smith

“Coming into the second half down one-nil we had to go for it. After they got the first goal in the second half I figured the scoreline would not matter much. You lose two nothing or four nothing, they both count as a loss, so I put the guys in who could score goals and we tried to go forward.”
“In my mind Chris Eylander was the man of the match,” added Smith. “He made two or three great saves that I thought were sure goals.”

Sounders 4, Silverbacks 0

First half -- 1, Sea: Greg Howes, from Hugo Alcaraz-Cuellar, 45th minute. Second half -- 2, Sea: Alcaraz-Cuellar, from Taylor Graham, 61st; 3, Sea: Howes, unassisted, 82nd; 4, Sea: Craig Tomlinson, unassisted, 90th.

Shots -- Atl 15, Sea 16. Saves -- Atl (Ryan McIntosh) 8, Sea (Chris Eylander) 7. Corner kicks -- Atl 8, Sea 5. Offsides-- Atl 0, Sea 2. Fouls -- Atl 12, Sea 9. Cautions -- Atl: Luis Lienda, 63rd minute. Sea: Alcaraz-Cuellar, 69th minute; Sebastien LeToux, 87th; Tomlinson, 90th. Attendance -- 4,893.