Kelvin Yeboah, Nectarios Triantis and Joaquin Pereya converted penalty kicks as Minnesota United FC defeated the Seattle Sounders following a scoreless draw Monday night in St. Paul, Minn., in the opener of their best-of-three MLS Western Conference playoff series.
Game 2 is scheduled for next Monday in Seattle.
Minnesota’s Dayne St. Clair, one of three finalists for MLS goalkeeper of the year, stopped a penalty kick by Seattle’s Alex Roldan, then watched as the Sounders’ Cristian Roldan put an attempt off the crossbar and Danny Leyva hit the left post.
The Sounders held 64% of the possession and had a 15-11 advantage in shots, but couldn’t find the back of the net in regulation.
St. Clair made a diving stop on a shot by Cristian Roldan in the 54th minute.
There wasn’t another attempt on net until St. Clair stopped substitute Danny Musovski from close range after a cross from Jordan Morris in the 80th minute.
Musovski had another chance in the opening minute of second-half stoppage time, but his header from 5 yards out after a cross from Morris sailed just over the crossbar.
Seattle had a 10-8 advantage in shots in the first half, though the Loons had a 4-2 edge in attempts on target.
Minnesota had the half’s best scoring opportunity on Bongokuhle Hlongwane’s breakaway from midfield in the 9th minute. Hlongwane dribbled into the penalty area before Sounders defender Jackson Ragen caught up with him and gave Hlongwane just enough of a shoulder-to-shoulder nudge to cause him to pull his shot just wide of the left post.
Seattle’s Alex Roldan cleared a Hlongwane shot off the goal line in the 18th minute and Minnesota’s Nicolas Romero did the same on Cristian Roldan’s header off a corner kick in the 22nd.
Seattle’s Stefan Frei made a diving stop on a shot from the right side of the penalty area by Triantis in the 41st minute.
–Field Level Media
