The Seattle Sounders defeated San Diego FC 1-0 at Lumen Field on Wednesday behind a second-half goal from Jesús Ferreira.
The Sounders had a gifted opportunity in the third minute when San Diego goalkeeper CJ dos Santos fluffed his lines on an attempted clearance at the edge of his box that was picked off by Alex Roldan. The Sounders fullback looked to chip it over dos Santos, but he recovered quickly to dive and parry it out for a corner.
Alejandro Alvarado forced Sounders goalkeeper Stefan Frei into his first save of the match in the 21st minute when his low shot from distance skipped across the turf, but Frei got down to his left to collect.
San Diego had a great chance in the 36th minute when Paddy McNair mishit a volley from six yards out that went straight to Frei.
Frei made his biggest save of the half in the 44th minute when he denied a tough shot from Alex Mighten, who was played in down the left flank, cut inside and looked to pick out the far corner, but the veteran goalkeeper got down quickly to paw it away.
The Sounders found the breakthrough in the 58th minute when Paul Rothrock was released in behind down the right side. Rothrock picked out Ferreira in the box where he took a deft touch to set himself up for a spin and a shot that beat dos Santos.
Seattle almost doubled the lead two minutes later when Albert Rusnák fired a shot from 20 yards out that dos Santos managed to dive and deflect over the crossbar.
Frei made a brilliant kick save in the 65th minute to preserve the lead when he was leaning to his right before a deflection took the shot back to his left. Frei adjusted and cleared the danger.
Cristian Roldan had a chance to ice the match on a counterattack in the second minute of stoppage time, but his shot was parried away at the near post by dos Santos.
The Sounders held on for their second straight 1-0 win and are 6-2-1 in their last nine matches. Seattle heads into the weekend in fourth in the West with 26 points from 16 matches (7-4-5).
THREE TAKEAWAYS
Ferreira bags his first
Patience paid off for Ferreira, who finally opened his Sounders goalscoring account after joining this past offseason. The United States international had still been active in the attack with seven assists in all competitions, but he finally found his elusive first goal. The 24-year-old former FC Dallas Homegrown has been one of the most prolific domestic attackers in MLS, tallying 53 goals during his time in Texas.
Best of the West
Wednesday marked the first of three consecutive matches for the Sounders against teams that entered midweek action in the top three in the Western Conference. Following the win over second-place San Diego, Seattle will host third-place Minnesota United on Sunday (3 p.m. PT; MLS Season Pass on Apple TV | TICKETS) before visiting the first-place Vancouver Whitecaps on Sunday, June 8.
Unbeaten run at home continues
The Sounders improved to 5-0-2 in MLS play at Lumen Field this season. Seattle and FC Cincinnati are the only two teams in the league who have yet to lose at home.
