With first goal in the books, have the floodgates opened for Sounders rookie Jordan Morris?

On Jan. 21, the Sounders’ multipurpose event space in Pioneer Square, The Ninety, was filled to the brim with people. Media members occupied numerous rows of chairs, and there were more TV cameras than are usually present at the team’s training sessions or post-match press conferences. A handful of fans mingled in the back of the room, having won a lottery among season-ticket holders to attend. The rumors had been flying for weeks, and even though everyone knew what was coming, the room was buzzing with anticipation and excitement.

A group of men began filing out of the stairwell in the back of the room, and as the last one stepped out of the shadows, the room went silent. Behind Sounders head coach Sigi Schmid, principal owner Adrian Hanauer and general manager Garth Lagerwey was Jordan Morris, the most hyped young player in American soccer. The Seattle native had recently decided to forego his senior season at Stanford, and anyone even tangentially connected to the Sounders or American soccer had an opinion about him. But in the end, the Sounders wooed him back home, where he signed the club’s highest ever homegrown-player contract to kick off his professional career in the comfort of family, friends and the club he had watched since he was a kid.

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The buzz had been building for years, especially after Morris was called up to the United States national team by Jurgen Klinsmann in 2014. He became the first enrolled college student to play for the United States since 1999. When he scored his first USMNT goal in a friendly against the USA’s biggest rival, Mexico, the hype train was at top speed with no end in sight. And when Morris finally arrived back in Seattle, the hype train continued – only this time it was rave green.

Schmid and many Sounders players were bombarded with questions for weeks about Morris, his expectations and where he would fit into a team that had just lost possibly the best forward in its history, Obafemi Martins. Morris barely had time to fit in as he was thrown into the proverbial fire, starting for the Sounders at right wing against Sporting Kansas City on opening day. In a match mired with controversy, Morris’ tame role was mostly a passing question as media and fans had far more pressing issues to address. He did have one glorious chance that he should have scored on, but chalk that up to debut jitters.

As the season went on, it became clear that despite Morris’ obvious talent and ability, the expectations weighed on him every time he stepped onto the pitch. He came very close on a handful of occasions but just couldn’t find the goal for weeks. After coming off the bench instead of starting against Montreal in early April, the hype had started to die down a little. Against Houston and Philadelphia, Morris started up front as a center forward rather than on the right wing like he had in the first few matches.

More chances came for Morris as Schmid shuffled his lineup multiple times in an effort to get the Sounders some goals. Despite Morris’ start at center forward against Philadelphia, he was shifted back to the right later in the game to accommodate Nelson Valdez. In the 71st minute, Morris made a diagonal run from the right after seeing Andreas Ivanschitz pick out a lofted pass that was headed to the top of the penalty box. He used his excellent first touch and speed to steer the ball towards the goal and flick it in with his preferred right foot.

While the goal had a lot to do with the exquisite pass from Ivanschitz, it was the kind of ball that Morris likes to get – but this was the first time since joining the Sounders that he did everything right and was rewarded with a goal. Chemistry between teammates takes time, and it took six matches before the conditions were perfect for Morris to score his first goal. Morris plays differently than Clint Dempsey and Valdez do, and the rest of the Sounders had to figure out how to create chances and make the right passes for him.

When you look at Morris’ goals while at Stanford, it’s immediately obvious that the kid can do all kinds of things with a soccer ball at his feet. He scored from distance, off set pieces, from the left, from the right – everything. But as he himself and others with the Sounders have said, Morris is the kind of forward who likes to latch onto through balls so that he can utilize his sublime first touch and technique to beat defenders and goalkeepers. Dempsey, on the other hand, likes to work the ball forward with “give-and-go” passes and beat individual defenders at close range. The same passes that Dempsey wants are not the same passes that Morris wants, and the Sounders are finally starting to make that distinction with consistency.

Sounders captain Brad Evans joked after the match against Philadelphia that “Right after the goal, I said, ‘That’s it. The flood gates are now open.’” There’s no way to tell how Morris will play from now on, but it’s clear that he needed the confidence that comes with a player finally opening his goal-scoring account. And just when the Sounders were desperate for goals and the fans’ faith in their new forward had just started to wane, Morris came through for in the best way possible. The Sounders, their fans and Morris himself will hope that last weekend’s goal was just the first of many.