SEATTLE — The preseason had not gone how Paul Rothrock hoped or expected.

After briefly testing free agency and turning down more lucrative offers to return to the Seattle Sounders, Rothrock found himself mostly playing with the reserves. In the final preseason game, he was relegated to a split-squad game where he started at left back.

It felt a far cry from the seemingly star-making performances of last year that turned him into a cult hero, if not necessarily a club legend.

Prior to the Sounders’ regular-season opener, Rothrock decided he needed a mental reset. Wearing white Beats headphones and his warm-ups, Rothrock walked out to the Lumen Field turf all alone. With a soccer ball in his hands and standing in the nearly empty stadium, the Seattle native used the moment to remind himself that this was exactly where he wanted to be.

“I was just taking it in,” Rothrock explained. “Lumen has a special magic to it. I was just appreciating that for a minute.”

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