Goals from Brad Evans and Lamar Neagle were the difference in the 2-1 match at CenturyLink Field on Sunday night.
SEATTLE – It was a night of milestones at CenturyLink Field as Sounders FC topped Chivas USA 2-1 to get back in the win column after three straight matches without a victory.
The win was the 180th in the MLS career of Seattle Head Coach Sigi Schmid.
His first half goal was the 20th in the MLS career of Brad Evans and Mauro Rosales tallied his 30th MLS assist.
It also ran Seattle’s home unbeaten streak to a club record eight matches and pushed it to 6-0-4 in its last 10 matches against Chivas USA.
“Obviously I’m happy with the character we showed going down 1-0 and coming back to win the game,” Schmid said. “I thought we created more chances today again, so it was good. I thought our possession was a little better as well. I’m pleased with our performance. I thought it was an upgrade over how we played last week and we have got to continue to concentrate on just playing good soccer.”
Over the game’s first 15 minutes, Seattle held nearly 60 percent of the possession and threatened the Chivas goal on several occasions. But a momentary slip on the defensive side put Sounders FC behind 1-0 in the 16th minute.
Carlos Alvarez cut around Djimi Traore, then eluded both Patrick Ianni and Osvaldo Alonso at the edge of the box before slipping a ball to Erick Torres, who hit a first-time shot back across Andrew Weber and into the net for his second goal in as many games for Chivas.
Seattle bounced back in a hurry though.
In the 23rd minute, Rosales won a ball against the sideline and played it forward for Obafemi Martins. He took a touch and turned to lead Evans in behind the defense on a clean break and Evans thumped the shot past Dan Kennedy for his second goal of the season, equalizing at 1-1.
“It was a good battle of possession, some good passing and Oba found me slipping through the middle,” said Evans, who has 15 goals in five seasons for Sounders FC and moved back to the central midfield role with Alonso for the match.
Weber was tested again the 29th minute when Torres got his boot on the end of a ball from Tristan Bowen and Weber sprung to the near post to swat the ball out of air for the save to keep the match even.
Seattle continued to control the offensive side of the game, then in the 57th minute finally broke through for the lead.
Rosales led Martins up the right side on a break. Just when it looked like he might lose possession as he entered the box, Martins sprung a pass back to Rosales in the middle and he touched it through to Neagle on the far side and he skipped a shot past Kennedy for his fifth goal of the season and a 2-1 lead.
The five goals matches a career high for Neagle.
Seattle outshot Chivas 20-8 in the match and finished with the 2-1 victory to jump to seventh in the West at 8-7-4.
“It was three points,” Schmid said. “I was pleased that we played better soccer today and that was the emphasis before the game.”
Sounders FC will host one more match on its three-match homestand, with FC Dallas coming to town on Saturday for their second meeting of the season.
Scoring
Sounders FC – Brad Evans (Obafemi Martins) 23; Lamar Neagle (Mauro Rosales, Obafemi Martins) 57.
Chivas USA – Erick Torres (Carlos Alvarez) 16.
Discipline
Sounders FC – Djimi Traore (caution) 14; Patrick Ianni (caution) 71.
Chivas USA – Tristan Bowen (caution) 69.
Lineups
Sounders FC – Andrew Weber, DeAndre Yedlin, Patrick Ianni, Djimi Traore, Leo Gonzalez, Mauro Rosales (David Estrada 78), Osvaldo Alonso, Brad Evans, Marc Burch (Servando Carrasco 84), Lamar Neagle, Obafemi Martins (Zach Scott 93+).
Chivas USA – Dan Kennedy, Carlos Borja, Mario de Luna, Carlos Bocanegra, Marky Delgado, Tristan Bowen (Jose Rivera 82), Jorge Viellafana, Gabriel Farfan (Julio Morales 55), Edgar Mejia (Josue Soto 64), Carlos Alvarez, Erick Torres.
