MONTREAL, QUEB. - After playing 87 minutes of scoreless soccer, Seattle Sounders FC (10-10-2, 32 points) fell 1-0 to the Montreal Impact (7-8-3, 24 points) Saturday night thanks to a late winner from defender Laurent Ciman. Despite the loss, Seattle remains in playoff position at fifth place in the Western Conference, just six points behind first-place FC Dallas.
With time winding down towards the end of the match, Montreal found the winner in the 88th minute via a set piece after Seattle was whistled for a foul 30 yards out on the left side. Marco Donadel took the free kick for the Impact, finding Ciman amidst a crowd in the area for a strong header past goalkeeper Troy Perkins.
The Impact controlled the run of play throughout the match, out-shooting Seattle 14-3, including a 6-0 shots-on-goal advantage, and held 61.2 percent of the possession. The Rave Green’s two best chances came courtesy of Chad Barrett and Lamar Neagle headers in the sixth and 56th minutes, respectively. Barrett found the end of an accurate cross from Leo Gonzalez but pushed his header wide of the far post, while Neagle barely missed at the near post following a left-footed cross from Barrett.
Perkins, who played for Montreal from 2012-14, made five saves in his third consecutive start for the injured Stefan Frei. The 10-year MLS veteran kept the match even with a point-blank save in the 21st minute, denying the speedy Dominic Oduro on a counter-attack from 10 yards away.
Sounders FC returns to action next Saturday, August 1 at home against Vancouver Whitecaps FC in the club’s first full-stadium match of the 2015 season. Kickoff is set for 7:00 p.m. PT on the Xbox Pitch at CenturyLink Field (Q13 FOX, Univision-Seattle, KIRO Radio 97.3 FM, El Rey 1360 AM).
MATCH SUMMARY
Seattle Sounders FC 0 – Montreal Impact 1
Saturday, July 25, 2015
Venue: Stade Saputo
Referee: Christopher Penso
Assistants: George Gansner III, Apolinar Mariscal
Fourth Official: Mark Kadlecik
Attendance: 17,209
Weather: Cloudy and 75 Degrees
SCORING SUMMARY
MTL – Laurent Ciman (Marco Donadel) 88’
MISCONDUCT SUMMARY
SEA – Gonzalo Pineda (caution) 84’
MTL – Marco Donadel (caution) 90’
MTL – Jack McInerney (caution) 90’+3’
LINEUPS & STATS
Seattle Sounders FC – Troy Perkins; Tyrone Mears, Chad Marshall, Zach Scott – captain, Leo Gonzalez (Dylan Remick 73’); Osvaldo Alonso, Andy Rose, Erik Friberg (Gonzalo Pineda 78’); Cristian Roldan, Lamar Neagle, Chad Barrett (Darwin Jones 68’)
Substitutes not used: Charlie Lyon, Jimmy Ockford, Micheal Azira, Thomà s
Total shots: 3 (3 players tied at 1)
Shots on goal: 0
Fouls: 16 (Alonso/Gonzalez, 3)
Offside: 2 (Barrett/Neagle, 1)
Corner-kicks: 1 (Roldan, 1)
Saves: 5 (Perkins, 5)
Montreal Impact – Evan Bush; Ambroise Oyongo, Victor Cabrera, Laurent Ciman, Donny Toia; Marco Donadel, Calum Mallace (Patrice Bernier 88’), Andres Romero (Maxim Tissot 78’), Ignacio Piatti – captain, Dilly Duka (Jack McInerney 71’); Dominic Oduro
Substitutes not used: Eric Kronberg, Wandrille Lefevre, Nigel Reo-Coker, Anthony Jackson-Hamel
Total shots: 14 (3 players tied at 3)
Shots on goal: 6 (Oduro, 2)
Fouls: 15 (Romero/Donadel, 3)
Offside: 1 (McInerney, 1)
Corner-kicks: 2 (Donadel, 2)
Saves: 0
MATCH NOTES
- Seattle Sounders FC (10-10-2, 32 points) remains in a tie for fifth place in the Western Conference, but hold the tiebreaker over Portland with an advantage in total wins. The Rave Green have dropped six of its past seven games for the first time in club history.
- Seattle is now 1-3-0 all-time against Montreal in league play, including a 0-2-0 record at Saputo Stadium. Tonight’s match is the only meeting between the two sides in the 2015 campaign.
- Goalkeeper Troy Perkins and midfielder/forward Lamar Neagle each played 90 minutes against their former club. Perkins registered five saves, while Neagle was one of three Sounders FC players to take a shot attempt.
- Tonight marked just the fourth time in club history that Sounders FC recorded three shots or fewer in a single match. The last time this occurred was against Real Salt Lake in June 2013, when Seattle had two shot attempts.
- Tonight’s fixture also matched a club record with the fewest combined corner-kicks between both sides. Seattle took one corner-kick, while Montreal had two. Three combined corner-kicks also occurred on two previous occasions, with the most recent being in July 2014 against San Jose.
