The San Jose Earthquakes defeated the Seattle Sounders on penalties on Wednesday at Starfire Sports Complex in Tukwila, Wash., in the Round of 32 of the U.S. Open Cup. After the match ended 2-2, the ‘Quakes won 10-9 in a penalty kick shootout that went 11 rounds.
San Jose opened the scoring just 10 minutes in when Jack Skahan converted a penalty. Sounders goalkeeper Stefan Cleveland made a huge breakaway save on Skahan just three minutes later to keep the deficit at one.
The Sounders’ best chance of the first half came in the waning moments when they had a fury of chances that were either blocked or saved by goalkeeper Matt Bersano.
The ‘Quakes doubled their lead five minutes after the break when Cade Cowell scored off a turnover and found the near corner.
Seattle pulled one back in the 54th minute when Jimmy Medranda scored a beautiful free kick from 25 yards out.
Fredy Montero equalized in the 77th minute when he headed home a great back-post cross from Kelyn Rowe.
THREE TAKEAWAYS
Jimmy “Bangers Only” Medranda
Medranda scored another one of his trademark golazos on Wednesday night with a curling left-footed free kick that bent over the wall and beat Bersano to the near post. The goal was Medranda’s fifth for the Sounders since joining midway through 2020.
Montero USOC leader
Montero passed Nate Jaqua for the most club goals in U.S. Open Cup play with eight goals. He is now the club’s all-time leader in MLS play, Concacaf Champions League and U.S. Open Cup.
Back to MLS play
The Sounders will finally return to MLS play on Sunday when they host Minnesota United (1 p.m. PT; ESPN, ESPN Deportes, 93.3 KJR FM, El Rey 1360 AM | TICKETS). Seattle, which has played the fewest matches of any team in MLS so far this season, recently defeated the Loons 2-1 in St. Paul last month.
