The Seattle Sounders defeated the Houston Dynamo 7-6 on penalty kicks after a 1-1 draw in regulation on Sunday night in Texas in Match Two of their Round One postseason series.
Cristian Roldan scored a late go-ahead goal for Seattle before recording an own goal six minutes later in stoppage time to force penalties. The Sounders prevailed to advance to the Western Conference Semifinal after their Match One win in penalties on Monday.
The Sounders knocked first in the fourth minute when Paul Rothrock played a daisy-cutter of a cross to the far post, but Alex Roldan was just unable to redirect it on frame.
Houston’s first good look came in the 18th minute when Ezequiel Ponce had his back to goal and turned to get a shot off from 10 yards out, but Roldan was there to clear it away.
Stefan Frei made the biggest play of the first half when he denied Ponce on the doorstep with a beautiful kick save in the 41st minute. Frei then pounced on the rebound and quelled the opportunity.
Frei came up with another huge save on Ponce in the 53rd minute when he rushed out to cut off his angle, got low and parried the shot attempt away.
The Dynamo kept the pressure on and produced a few half-chances over the next 10 minutes, but nothing troubled Frei.
Houston was reduced to 10 men for the second straight match when Hector Herrera was sent off in the 66th minute for violent conduct after spitting at the referee.
The Sounders finally found the first goal of the series for either side in the 87th minute when Roldan beat Dynamo goalkeeper Steve Clark. Danny Leyva and Nouhou had a great interchange on the left side of the box before Nouhou dropped a pass across the middle for Roldan, who calmly deposited a one-timed, right-footed finish into the bottom right corner.
Houston found an equalizer in the third minute of stoppage time when Griffin Dorsey played a dangerous cross along the goal line that Roldan deflected into Seattle’s net for an own goal.
After a 1-1 draw in regulation, the match went straight to penalty kicks for the second straight match.
The Sounders converted their first three attempts and appeared to take a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the third round when Frei denied Sebastian Kowalczyk, but Frei left his line too early and Kowalczyk scored on the retake.
Seattle and Houston made each of their first five attempts to send it to sudden death. Georgi Minoungou and Brooklyn Raines traded goals in the sixth round before Obed Vargas scored to open the seventh round. Frei then dove to his right and denied Tate Schmitt’s effort in the bottom of the round to close out the shootout, match and series.
Seattle will await the winner of the LAFC and Vancouver Whitecaps series to determine its Western Conference Semifinal opponent. LAFC defeated the ‘Caps in the opening game to take a 1-0 series lead. An LAFC series win would send the Sounders on the road to Los Angeles, while a Vancouver series victory would mean Seattle would host its Cascadia rivals at Lumen Field.
THREE TAKEAWAYS
Penalty kick warriors
For the second straight match, the Sounders won their penalty shootout against the Dynamo. Seattle converted all 12 of its attempts across the two games.
Déjà vu
The Dynamo had a player sent off in the 66th minute for the second consecutive match in this series. Coco Carrasquilla was ejected in the 66th in Match One before teammate Herrera saw red at the same time on Sunday.
Cristian capitalizes
With Jordan Morris (hamstring) and Albert Rusnák (hip) both sidelined, Roldan picked up the attacking slack to find the late opener.
