SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Seattle Sounders FC fell, 1-0, to the San Jose Earthquakes Saturday night at Levi's Stadium. Yannick Djalo scored the lone goal as Seattle dropped its second straight game for the first time this season.
Seattle (12-6-2, 38 points) remains first in the Western Conference standings, two points clear of Real Salt Lake. San Jose (6-8-5, 23 points) has won consecutive games and is unbeaten in its last three.
In the 42nd minute, Djalo put the Earthquakes up when he got behind the defense on an over-the-top ball from Chris Wondolowski and slotted it past Stefan Frei.
Sounders FC nearly equalized in the 85th minute when Chad Barrett rocketed a header off a corner kick, but Wondolowski headed it off the line to prevent the goal.
Seattle outshot San Jose 19-13, including a 9-4 shots on goal advantage, controlled 57.5% of the possession, and earned nine corner kicks to the Earthquakes' three.
Quakes keeper Jon Busch made eight saves, including consecutive stops early in stoppage time on long-distance shots from Clint Dempsey and Gonzalo Pineda. In the 68th minute, he leapt to knock a dangerous Kenny Cooper header over the crossbar.
Following a Dempsey free kick in fifth minute of stoppage time, DeAndre Yedlin fired a shot in the box that was blocked away by Sam Cronin.
Sounders FC returns to action next Sunday when CenturyLink Field opens to full capacity for the lone matchup of the season against the Houston Dynamo. Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m. PT and will be broadcast nationally on ESPN2.
Scoring Summary:
SJ - Yannick Djalo (Chris Wondolowski) 42
Seattle Sounders FC - Stefan Frei; DeAndre Yedlin, Zach Scott, Jalil Anibaba, Leo Gonzalez (Chad Barrett 83); Brad Evans, Osvaldo Alonso, Gonzalo Pineda, Marco Pappa (Kenny Cooper 65); Clint Dempsey, Obafemi Martins.
Substitutes Not Used: Josh Ford, Djimi Traore, Dylan Remick, Andy Rose, Micheal Azira.
TOTAL SHOTS: 19 (Dempsey 7); SHOTS ON GOAL: 9 (Dempsey 3); FOULS: 12 (Yedlin 4); OFFSIDE: 0; CORNER KICKS: 9 (Pineda 8); SAVES: 3 (Frei 3).
San Jose Earthquakes - Jon Busch; Shaun Francis, Victor Bernardez, Jason Hernandez, Jordan Stewart; Atiba Harris, Sam Cronin, Jean-Baptiste Pierazzi, Shea Salinas (Cordell Cato 87); Yannick Djalo (Khari Stephenson 66), Chris Wondolowski.
Substitutes Not Used: Bryan Meredith, Ty Harden, Brandon Barklage, Alan Gordon, Tommy Thomposon.
TOTAL SHOTS: 13 (Djalo, Salinas 3); SHOTS ON GOAL: 4 (Salinas 2); FOULS: 16 (Harris 4); OFFSIDE: 2 (Harris, Wondolowski 1); CORNER KICKS: 3 (Salinas 3); SAVES: 8 (Busch 8).
Misconduct Summary:
SJ - Victor Bernardez (caution) 18'
SEA - Zach Scott (caution) 45+1'
SJ - Atiba Harris (caution) 78'
Referee: Ismail Elfath
Referee's Assistants: Frank Anderson, Corey Parker
4th Official: Alejandro Mariscal
Attendance: 48,765
Time of Game: 1:53
Weather: Partly Cloudy and 62 degrees
