The Seattle Sounders fell 7-6 on penalties to Minnesota United at Allianz Field in St. Paul, Minn., on Saturday after a 3-3 draw in regulation in Match 3 of the Best-of-3 First Round series in the MLS Cup Playoffs. Albert Rusnák, Danny Musovski and Jordan Morris scored for Seattle, while Joaquín Pereyra, Jefferson Diaz and Anthony Markanich scored for the hosts. Minnesota advances to the Western Conference Semifinals where it will take on the winner of San Diego FC and the Portland Timbers. The Sounders’ 2025 campaign comes to an end.
Like they did in Match 2, the Sounders opened the scoring inside 10 minutes when Rusnák finished off a beautiful piece of buildup play. Nouhou whipped in a cross that Rusnák let run through to Musovski, who one-timed a pass back into Rusnák run before the Slovakian unleashed a wicked half-volley that beat Dayne St. Clair at the far post.
Seattle doubled its lead in the eighth minute when Musovski was in the right place at the right time when Jesús Ferreira played a cross in along the six-yard box on a short corner. Ferreira’s cross was whiffed by Loons defender Morris Duggan, which allowed a wide-open Musovski to tap the ball in on the doorstep.
Rusnák had another opportunity in the 16th minute on a counterattack led by Morris on the righthand side. Morris then dropped a pass into the path of an onrushing Rusnák, whose one-timed shot was hit right at St. Clair.
The Loons halved the early deficit in the 19th minute when Pereyra stepped up for a free kick from 25 yards out and bent his curling shot over the Seattle wall and into the side netting.
Stefan Frei made a nice save in the 28th minute when Nectarios Triantis hit a ball from the edge of the box looking for the far post, but Frei dove to his right to parry it away.
Morris stretched for a headed ball across from Jackson Ragen in the 38th minute, but he couldn’t quite generate enough power on it to beat St. Clair, who kicked away the effort.
Triantis had another shot in the 41st minute from the right side of the box that Frei easily corralled. In the seconds after Frei’s save, Joseph Rosales was sent off for headbutting Ferreira away from the ball, reducing the Loons to 10 men.
Seattle nearly added a third off a short corner routine in the 51st minute when Ferreira played a ball across the box for Cristian Roldan, but his short-range shot was blocked away by Duggan.
Rusnák was inches away from earning his brace in the 54th minute when Roldan dropped a pass to the penalty spot for a wide-open Rusnák, but his shot rattled the near post.
Minnesota leveled the match in the 61st minute when Michael Boxall sent in a cross after a throw-in that Duggan flicked on to the back post where Diaz headed in the goal past Frei.
The Loons took the lead in the 71st minute when Markanich got on the end of a corner at the far post and headed it in past Frei.
Roldan hit a volley from the top of the box in the 77th minute but it was right into St. Clair’s chest.
St. Clair pushed a great effort from Alex Roldan over the bar in the 87th minute after the Sounders right back fired from the top of the box.
On the ensuing corner, Cristian Roldan made a wonderful flick behind him to find Morris, who slid and stabbed home the equalizer from six yards out. Head Coach Brian Schmetzer then subbed in backup goalkeeper and penalty kick specialist Andrew Thomas to close out the match in anticipation of penalties.
After the match finished 3-3, it went to penalty kicks for the second time this series to determine a winner.
PENALTY SHOOTOUT
Pereyra stepped up in the top half of the first round and missed to his right. Thomas, however, came up wincing in pain after landing hard on his left hand. Rusnák then buried his attempt in the bottom half of the round to give Seattle a 1-0 lead.
Triantis scored his attempt in the top of the second frame despite Thomas guessing right and getting his hands on it. Morris then hit the crossbar in the bottom of the round to level the penalties at 1-1.
Owen Gene converted for the Loons in the top half of the third round before Ragen converted as well to level it 2-2.
Duggan sent his penalty kick down the middle past a diving Thomas in the top half of the fourth round before Ryan Kent, who made his first appearance since August, sent his to the top corner to equalize at 3-3.
Boxall scored his attempt into the lower left corner to give the Loons a 4-3 advantage before Paul Rothrock answered to send the shootout to sudden death.
Carlos Harvey delivered to open the sixth round before St. Clair dove to his right to get a hand on Georgi Minoungou’s shot but it went in to keep the Sounders alive.
Thomas came up with a huge save on Markanich in the top of the seventh round before Obed Vargas hit the post in the bottom of the round to keep Minnesota alive.
Thomas saved another one to open the top of the eighth round before Osaze De Rosario had his penalty saved by St. Clair as well.
Bongokuhle Hlongwane scored for the Loons in the top of the ninth round before Alex Roldan scored to level it at 6-6 and send it to a 10th round.
St. Clair scored one himself to open the 10th round before Thomas struck his attempt off the crossbar, which won the shootout for the Loons.
THREE TAKEAWAYS
Quick start
After failing to score in Match 1 in Minnesota, the Sounders scored early in both Match 2 and 3. Vargas scored in the eighth minute in Seattle’s eventual 4-2 win last Monday before Rusnák and Musovski scored in the fifth and eighth minutes, respectively, on Saturday.
Flipping the script
After the Sounders famously erased a 2-0 deficit at home in the 2020 Western Conference Championship to defeat Minnesota 3-2, Minnesota stunned Seattle with a three-goal comeback of its own. Despite a late equalizer, the Loons edged out the Sounders to advance.
Thomas subs in
Schmetzer opted to bring on Thomas for at the end of regulation for the shootout. Thomas, who helped the Sounders defeat Club Puebla on penalties in the quarterfinals of the Leagues Cup en route to a Leagues Cup title and Goalkeeper of the Tournament honor, made two saves in the shootout.
