The Seattle Sounders drew the Colorado Rapids in a wild 3-3 match at Lumen Field on Wednesday night. An opening goal from Obed Vargas and a brace from Albert Rusnák gave the Sounders a 3-0 lead before two penalty conversions from Djordje Mihailovic and Cole Bassett and a goal from Darren Yapi drew the match level.
The Sounders opened the scoring in the 16th minute when Jesús Ferreira switched a ball to Paul Rothrock on the left side of the box. Rothrock picked out Rusnák at the top of the box, and Rusnák laid a ball of for Vargas, whose first-time hit took a deflection off Andreas Maxsø and trickled past Zack Steffen in goal.
Colorado nearly equalized two minutes later off another wicked deflection on a shot from Ted Ku-Diepetro that just skipped wide of the post.
Seattle almost doubled its lead in the 20th minute when Vargas played a beautiful through ball in behind for Ferreira, whose initial shot was saved by Steffen. Danny Musovski had a chance on the rebound but couldn’t get his footing right to make solid contact.
Ku-Dipietro cut inside on the left flank in the 35th minute and ripped a shot to the near post that Andrew Thomas got down to his right to corral.
Jon Bell made a remarkable sliding stop in the 37th minute to deny Calvin Harris with a bona fide look at goal.
Just moments later, Thomas made an unbelievable diving save after Connor Ronan unleashed a vicious volley that seemed destined for the top corner.
Rusnák was in a good position to make it 2-0 in the 42nd minute when Alex Roldan played a ball across the center of the six-yard box, but he couldn’t quite wrap his foot around it to redirect it on frame.
Rusnák made instant amends with a wonderful bit of ingenuity. Steffen tracked a ball down to his right near the touch line and tried to clear a ball away, but it only made it as far as the head of Jackson Ragen. Rusnák took a quick look and saw Steffen still out of goal and took the loose ball on the half-volley into an open net from distance.
Two minutes after halftime, Rusnák made it a brace for himself when he was left alone at the top of the box. Musovski picked him out, and the Slovakian international made no mistake in finding the lower left corner.
The Sounders conceded a penalty two minutes later when Cristian Roldan fouled Rafael Navarro in the box. Mihailovic stepped up and calmly buried the ensuing spot kick.
Navarro drew another penalty in the 51st minute when Thomas slid to stretch for a ball and clipped Navarro’s ankles. Bassett took the penalty this time and cut the deficit to 3-2.
Thomas made a vital save in the 55th minute to keep the Rapids from leveling the match when he made a brilliant stop with his right hand from close range on a shot by Reggie Cannon.
Navarro forced Thomas into a difficult save in the 74th minute when the Sounders goalkeeper went down to his left to snare the Brazilian striker’s shot from the top of the box.
Colorado found the equalizer one minute later when the substitute Yapi danced his way in the box before poking a shot to the far left corner.
The point was only the Rapids’ second result in Seattle since late 2016, going 0-7-2 in all competitions at Lumen Field in that span.
The Sounders finish the match fifth in the Western Conference table with 34 points points from 22 matches. (9-6-7). Seattle will return to Lumen Field on Saturday for a date with the San Jose Earthquakes (5:30 p.m. PT; Watch on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV | TICKETS).
THREE TAKEAWAYS
Rusnák masterclass
Fresh off an MLS Team of the Matchday performance, Rusnák one-upped himself with two goals and an assist. Rusnák is now up to 10 goals on the season, a team-high, and continues to torment the Rapids with nine career goals against Colorado.
MLS All-Star shines
Just as impressive in the Sounders midfield was the 19-year-old Vargas, who earlier this week was added as a selection to the 2025 MLS All-Star Game by Austin FC Head Coach Nico Estévez. The Mexican international scored his second goal of the season on Wednesday evening.
Déjà vu
For the second time in four days, the Sounders took a 3-0 lead only to have to sweat the game out. Seattle managed to hold on for a 3-2 win over Sporting Kansas City on Saturday before giving up three consecutive second-half goals to Colorado.
