The Seattle Sounders defeated Sporting Kansas City 4-1 at Children’s Mercy Park in Kansas City, Kan., on Saturday night behind a historic four-goal performance from Jordan Morris.
Sporting KC took an early lead when Willy Agada scored in the fifth minute. Dániel Sallói’s shot was saved by Stefan Frei, but Agada was first to the rebound and tapped home the go-ahead goal.
The Sounders responded in the 23rd minute when Morris finished a beautiful cross from Léo Chú, who earned his first start of the season.
Chú and Morris combined yet again in the 54th minute when the Brazilian slipped in Morris, who finished a one-timed effort from the left side to the far post.
SKC went down a man in the 63rd minute when defender Ben Sweat picked up his second yellow card and was sent off.
Morris completed his hat trick in the 69th minute when he one-timed a finish at the far post off a cross form Nicolás Lodeiro.
Morris added his fourth in the 77th minute when he headed home a cross from Chú again. Chú entered Saturday with four career assists in 37 MLS matches and left with a hat trick of helpers.
The Sounders will head to Carson, Calif., next Saturday for a road date with the LA Galaxy (4:30 p.m. PT; FOX, Watch for free on the Apple TV app). The Galaxy, who played to a scoreless draw with the Portland Timbers this week, are winless through their opening first four matches (0-1-3).
THREE TAKEAWAYS
Morris makes history
Morris scored his fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh goals in five matches to start the MLS season, which puts him first in the early Golden Boot race. The Sounders’ Homegrown, who recorded his second career MLS hat trick in both regular season and postseason play, is well on pace to surpass his best MLS goalscoring record of 12, which he set in his rookie year in 2016. His four-goal effort is a Sounders franchise record in MLS play. He is also the third player in MLS history to score four goals in an away match and first since Clint Mathis (five) for the MetroStars at Dallas in 2000.
Lineup shifts
With six players away on international duty, Head Coach Brian Schmetzer was forced to rearrange his Starting XI that had been very consistent through the opening month of the season. Morris started at forward, with Chú and Albert Rusnák operating on the wings. Josh Atencio joined João Paulo in central midfield while Cristian Roldan and Kelyn Rowe filled in for Alex Roldan and Nouhou at fullback, respectively.
Three points on the road
The Sounders snapped a 10-match road winless streak (0-9-1) dating back to last July. Seattle sits in second place in the Western Conference with 10 points from five matches and has still conceded just twice this year.
