Tacoma Defiance stars Yu Tsukanome and Sebastian Gomez have signed for the Sounders first team, the club recently announced.
Tsukanome, 25, scored 18 goals for the Defiance last season and tied Tacoma’s all-time scoring record in a season. The Japanese forward played a total of 3618 minutes in 55 games for the Defiance, scoring a grand total of 23 goals and 17 assists. 2090 of those minutes came in 2025.
Sebastian Gomez, who also plays forward, has been part of the Defiance since 2023 and has totaled 55 appearances. The 19-year-old has scored nine total goals, where five of those goals came last season. In three seasons, he’s played 4322 minutes. Gomez, A Florida native who was raised in the Greater Seattle Area, played youth soccer at local premier club Seattle Celtic before joining the Seattle Sounders Academy.
