COMMERCE CITY, CO – Jordan Morris scored a game-winning goal in the 56th minute, giving the Seattle Sounders a 1-0 victory in the second leg of their Western Conference Championship matchup with the Colorado Rapids at Dick’s Sporting Good’s Park on Sunday to send the Rave Green to their first-ever MLS Cup Final.
Morris’s goal gave the Sounders a 3-1 aggregate victory over Colorado following a 2-1 triumph in the first leg at CenturyLink Field on Nov. 22, meaning Seattle will take on the victor of the Eastern Conference Championship series between Toronto FC and the Montreal Impact in the MLS Cup Final on Dec. 10.
Toronto and Montreal will wrap up their series on Wednesday. If the Impact win, the Sounders will host the MLS Cup Final, or play at Toronto if TFC win the conference title.
The goal was the second of the postseason for Morris, who overcame a virus to notch the series-sealing tally. The 22-year-old slid a shot past diving Colorado goalkeeper Zac MacMath and into the net after a through ball from forward Nelson Valdez, giving the Sounders the 3-1 aggregate lead and bringing them level on the away-goal tiebreaker in one fell swoop.
The goal was a welcome relief for the Sounders, who absorbed an onslaught of pressure throughout the first half and were outshot 11-1 through the opening 45 minutes.
Colorado’s best chance of the first half came in the 23rd minute after forward Kevin Doyle shot a cross into the Seattle box in the direction of former Sounders Sebastian Le Toux, who would have had a look on a wide open net. But Doyle’s cross sailed past Le Toux and out of bounds, allowing Seattle to narrowly avert the threat.
The Rapids continued to press the action throughout the duration of the half, but Seattle would ultimately manage to go into the locker room unscathed at the break.
Then came the heroics from Morris and Valdez, handing the Rapids their first home loss in 19 games this season. Seattle managed to hold the Rapids off the scoresheet for the rest of the match, officially crowning the Sounders as Western Conference champions for the first time since their expansion season in 2009.
