Paul Rothrock scored his second goal of the campaign midway through the first half to lift the visiting Seattle Sounders to a 1-0 victory over the San Jose Earthquakes on Sunday.
Andrew Thomas made seven saves to keep a third MLS clean sheet of the season for Seattle (3-1-0, 9 points), which won its second straight on the road in MLS and third straight in all competitions.
Rothrock’s goal was the first conceded by San Jose (3-1-0, 9 points), which was trying to join LAFC and Vancouver as teams still perfect after four games.
The Quakes outshot Seattle 24-7 overall and 8-4 in efforts on target, but were forced to absorb defeat in the first start for former RB Leipzig and Tottenham star Timo Werner.
Rothrock also scored late on Thursday night in Seattle’s 3-0 rout at Vancouver in Leg 1 of their CONCACAF Champions Cup Round of 16 series.
Three days later, he broke through the deadlock in the 20th minute.
It was Jesus Ferreira who sprung the attack with a well-timed through ball from the center circle to put his teammate in behind the San Jose defense.
Rothrock took two touches in full stride to collect himself before dispatching his finish across the body of charging goalkeeper Daniel and inside the far left corner.
Preston Judd had two one-on-one chances to pull the hosts level after halftime.
Thomas snuffed the first one out on his own in the 61st minute. Then in the 74th, he got a piece of Judd’s next effort on the run to slow it before scrambling defender Antino Lopez cleared it off the line.
In the 83rd minute, Thomas reacted well to push Niko Tsakiris’ effort over the crossbar.
Cody Baker appeared to have added to Seattle’s lead in the 86th minute when he found the bottom right corner from the edge of the penalty area.
Following video review, his potential first career MLS goal was called back because Albert Rusnak had strayed offside and obstructed Daniel’s line of sight.
–Field Level Media
