Jordan Morris and Nicolas Lodeiro each scored a goal and had an assist, Raul Ruidiaz added a goal in his eighth consecutive MLS match, and the Seattle Sounders held on for a 4-2 victory over the Chicago Fire on Saturday at SeatGeek Stadium.
Victor Rodriguez also scored and later earned a penalty converted by Lodeiro as Seattle won their third straight to open the season, matching their best three-game start in the club's MLS history. Stefan Frei made 10 saves for the visitors.
Raheem Edwards and Fabian Herbers each scored for the Fire, who briefly looked like they might recoup all of a 3-0 deficit before Ruidiaz's late strike on the counter attack sealed it.
The Fire have now scored four goals in three matches, but have earned only one point in their opening three games of the season.
Goals
- 8' - SEA - Victor Rodriguez | WATCH
- 15' - SEA - Jordan Morris | WATCH
- 49' - SEA - Nicolas Lodeiro | WATCH
- 56' - CHI - Raheem Edwards | WATCH
- 84' - CHI - Fabian Herbers | WATCH
- 88' - SEA - Raul Ruidiaz | WATCH
Three Things
- THE BIG PICTURE: The Sounders are now off to their best three-game start since they also went 3-0-0 to open their inaugural MLS season in 2009. And with a plus-seven goal differential, they're already nearly halfway to the plus-15 they posted en route to finishing second last season in the Western Conference table. Meanwhile, Chicago has earned two points or fewer in their opening three games for a sixth time in seven seasons.
- MOMENT OF THE MATCH: Both the service from Lodeiro and the finish from Morris were impeccable on Seattle's second goal. It was Morris' third of the season after missing all of 2018 with a torn ACL.
- MAN OF THE MATCH: It's rare that a goalkeeper concedes twice and earns this honor, but Frei was worthy of it. Several of his 10 stops were well above average, including this early denial of Nemanja Nikolic's effort which looked labeled for the bottom right corner. He deserved none of the blame on either Chicago goal.
Up Next
- CHI: Saturday, March 30 vs. New York Red Bulls (1 pm ET | MLS LIVE on ESPN+, MLS LIVE on DAZN)
- SEA: Saturday, March 30 at Vancouver Whitecaps (10 pm ET | TSN1, MLS LIVE on ESPN+)
