Minnesota United Earns First Win at Lumen Field with 3-2 Victory against Seattle Sounders

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MLS Minnesota United FC

Minnesota United Earns First Win at Lumen Field with 3-2 Victory against Seattle Sounders

June 1, 2025 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
Minnesota United FC News Release


SEATTLE - Minnesota United earned a hard-fought 3-2 win over Seattle Sounders FC on Sunday night, marking its first-ever victory at Lumen Field. Tani Oluwaseyi opened the scoring early in the second half, followed by a penalty goal from Robin Lod and a second from Oluwaseyi off a rebound to complete the three-goal stretch. The Loons return to Allianz Field on Saturday, June 14, for a historic first-ever matchup against expansion side San Diego FC. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. CT.

9' - Minnesota United found their first dangerous chance on goal after Julian Gressel gained possession, crossing the ball from outside the 18-yard box where he found Tani Oluwaseyi inside the box, on the left side of the six-yard line for a header to goal. Oluwaseyi's header bounced off the crossbar and out where Seattle Sounders cleared the ball.

21' - Seattle Sounders create their first dangerous opportunity when Obed Vargas received possession in the attacking third and passed it to Albert Rusnák. Rusnák flicked it over near the penalty spot to Danny Musovski, who directed it narrowly wide of the left post, resulting in a goal kick for Dayne St. Clair.

36' - The Sounders threatened St. Clair in goal after they sent a driven ball across goal to Paul Rothrock on the left flank for a one-touch shot. Rothrock's shot goes high and stays inbounds where St. Clair pushed the ball out to keep the score 0-0.

43' - Nicolás Romero sent a long ball to Oluwaseyi making a run through the attacking third. Oluwaseyi applied pressure, forcing a defensive mistake that left Joaquín Pereyra alone at the top of the 18-yard box. Pereyra settled the ball and fired a shot just narrowly wide of the top left corner.

44' - The Loons continued to be a threat as Carlos Harvey played Robin Lod in the middle third and Lod sent a through ball to Anthony Markanich making a run down the left side into the penalty box. Markanich cut the ball back to Gressel near the top of the box, where Gressel took a one-touch shot but Stefan Frei threw himself to make the save, keeping the match scoreless through the first half.

51' (1-0) - MNUFC scored the opening goal of the match after the Loons switched the field from the left sideline, through the midfield and out the other side to Bongokuhle Hlongwane who slipped it to Robin Lod. The Finnish international on the right flank, cuts the ball back to Oluwaseyi for a one-touch shot, finding the back of the goal.

54' (2-0) - MNUFC doubled the score after Hlongwane drew a foul inside the penalty box, earning a penalty kick. Pereyra made a run from the defensive third into the attacking third before playing a pass to Hlongwane, who was making a run into the 18-yard area. Hlongwane was fouled by Jonathan Bell, and Lod stepped up to take the kick, calmly placing it into the bottom right corner.

55' (2-1) - One minute after conceding their second goal, Seattle quickly sent a long-ball over the top from the center circle to Pedro de la Vega who found teammate Kossa-Rienzi for a shot on goal in the center of the 18-yard box, burying the ball in the back of the net.

58' (3-1) - The Loons found the back of the net again as Pereyra received possession near the top of the penalty area and fired a long-range shot. Frei managed to make the initial save, but Oluwaseyi was able to get the rebound and tapped it into the back of the net.

66' - Anthony Markanich makes a crucial save after Seattle sends a ball into the box from the right corner, finding Georgi Minoungou for a header on the right side, but Markanich on the goal line blocked the header, keeping the ball out of the goal.

83' - Georgi Minoungou helped create a scoring opportunity by sending a long cross from the right flank. As Romero attempted to clear it, the ball deflected off his right foot, sneaking past St. Clair and into the back of the net.

GOAL SUMMARY

1-0 MIN - Tani Oluwaseyi (Robin Lod) - 51'

2-0 MIN - Robin Lod (penalty) - 54'

2-1 SEA - Kossa-Rienzi (Pedro de la Vega) - 55'

3-1 MIN - Tani Oluwaseyi - 58'

3-2 SEA - Nicolás Romero (own goal) - 83'

DISCIPLINARY SUMMARY

MIN - Julian Gressel (caution) - 19'

MIN - Joaquín Pereyra (caution) - 40'

MIN - Anthony Markanich (caution) 69'

SEA - Danny Musovski (caution) - 90'+1'

MIN - Robin Lod (caution) - 90'+6'

NOTABLE STATS

0 - Minnesota United FC has not lost a match in the 2025 MLS regular season when scoring first.

1 - With Sunday's result, Minnesota United earned their first victory at Lumen Field while also snapping Seattle Sounders FC's 13-game home winning streak across all competitions.

1 - Tonight marked the first MLS regular-season start for midfielder Owen Gene since joining Minnesota United.

2- Tani Oluwaseyi scored his third brace of the season and leads the team with eight goals.

7 - Minnesota United has scored its last seven penalties in MLS following Robin Lod's penalty to the bottom right corner.

2 - Robin Lod scored his second goal of the season and added an assist in tonight's match. His assist is his 33rd assist in the MLS regular season, tying midfielder Emanuel Reynoso's record.

ATTENDANCE: 31,491

BELL BANK MAN OF THE MATCH: Joaquín Pereyra

LINEUPS:

Minnesota United XI: GK Dayne St. Clair; D Anthony Markanich (Kelvin Yeboah 70'), Nicolás Romero, Michael Boxall ©, Carlos Harvey, Julian Gressel (Bongokuhle Hlongwane 46'); M Robin Lod, Wil Trapp, Owen Gene (Joseph Rosales 69'), Joaquín Pereyra (Morris Duggan 89'); F Tani Oluwaseyi

Substitutes Not Used: GK Alex Smir; D Jefferson Diaz, DJ Taylor; M Hoyeon Jung; F Darius Randell

Seattle Sounders FC XI: GK Stefan Frei; D Nouhou (Reed Baker-Whiting 75'), Jackson Ragen (Stuart Hawkins 59'), Jonathan Bell, Kalani Kossa-rienzi; M Paul Rothrock (Ryan Kent 59'), Cristian Roldan, Albert Rusnak, Obed Vargas (Osaze De Rosario 80'), Pedro de la Vega (Georgi Minoungou 60'); F Danny Musovski

Substitutes not used: GK Andrew Thomas; D Alex Roldan, Danny Leyva; M João Paulo

UP NEXT:

MINNESOTA UNITED FC vs. SAN DIEGO FC

Allianz Field | Saint Paul, Minnesota

06.14.2025 | MLS 2025 Regular Season | Match 18

7:30 p.m. CT (MLS Season Pass/1500 ESPN)

MINNESOTA UNITED POST GAME QUOTE SHEET

HEAD COACH ERIC RAMSAY

On his reaction to Minnesota United's first win at Lumen Field...

"I'm really pleased. I didn't talk about it too much before the game amongst the staff, I didn't talk about it in front of the players, but obviously speaks to how difficult it is to come here and get a point, let alone three points, all the teams across the league would say that. I don't think it's just a Minnesota thing, obviously in our case, it's extreme that the club's never picked up a point here, but I think in general it's a really difficult place to come. They're [Seattle Sounders FC] a very good team at home and we've done a really good job of taking away what they do well and also imposing ourselves on the game and it's amounted to three really important points ahead of a two-week break, going into the internationals where we start to look a bit lighter for a couple of weeks to a month or so. It was a really important win and I'm pleased for everyone connected with the club because I know it's something that people have wanted off the back as soon as possible."

On the excitement of the team after the win...

"I think it's the nature of it as well. We were obviously really pleased with the manner of some elements of the performance that were missing against Vancouver [Whitecaps FC]. But, what wasn't missing was the level of discipline and absolute desperation to win the game that we show in most games, and that's led to us being able to ride out the inevitable pressure at the end of the game that for sure comes, nine, 10 times out of 10 in that situation when you're facing a team [Seattle Sounders FC] like that, that's desperate to score. They're attacking their supporters' section. It's an inevitable wave of real pressure and we handled that really well. If you win in that way, then players generally come off the pitch with that sense of having really been galvanized. I'm sure when we look back at it in the cold light of tomorrow or Tuesday, we will be very pleased with the completeness of the performance and certainly where we asked for a step forward relative to how we performed against Vancouver, we got that tonight."

On if the weight has been lifted from the result last year at Lumen Field...

"I also feel we were really unfortunate against Seattle [Sounders FC] last year in the sense that when we came here a couple of times, it was right in the thick of the really difficult period of ours. We had a red card here, we had some unfortunate circumstances around the games which made our life really tough, so I felt across all three games against Seattle last year we didn't do ourselves justice, and we obviously need to prove that we can beat the teams that are consistently at the top. They are consistently at the top, they're in the Club World Cup for a reason. They're a team that has had sustained success and we need to be able to show repeatedly that we can beat those teams and also to do it that way, away from home is not easy and winning games in general away from home in MLS is not easy. So when you add that win to a really good point at Vancouver [Whitecaps FC], we've done incredibly well against two very good teams over the course of what has seemed like a very long trip for us."

On starting Owen Gene tonight...

"I think he did really well when he came on against Vancouver [Whitecaps FC] and he showed a real composure on the ball, which carried into tonight's game. His performance was for a player of his age, very, very composed, really difficult circumstances and Owen has shown that since his time here for me, he hasn't been lacking in any sense. What has been lacking is continuity as a consequence of the injury, and I think if you guys remember the early stage of his time here, he was coming on in difficult stages of games late on, closing games out and showing real maturity and composure, and he did that against Vancouver and he did that again today. He's come off the pitch at 60, 65 minutes just because of the lack of minutes and rhythm, but it was a really good performance and someone that we really like and really trust. He's 21, but he's played a lot of games. He's up to 120, 125 games by this point in his career, and he plays with that level of maturity and calmness. So, I'm sure everyone in the changing room will be very appreciative of what he brought to the table today and how he helped us improve."

On his thoughts on Anthony Markanich avoiding getting a second yellow card...

"We obviously acted quickly on the basis of a couple of bookings as we typically do. It's a league [Major League Soccer] in which cards are given out fairly quickly, perhaps by design. But I didn't want to leave Julian [Gressel] in a difficult position, I didn't want to leave Anthony [Markanich] in a difficult position, I didn't want to leave the team in a difficult position as a consequence of me not being decisive enough in those moments. I think Ant [Anthony Markanich] probably got, without having seen it back, probably got a little bit lucky on the second incident and obviously we acted quickly after that. I felt like that in itself didn't quite lead to the effect that we wanted in nullifying their threat on the right hand side because they did get a couple of really good chances from that as the game went on. But, ultimately we got what we wanted and that's partly to do with being decisive in those moments on cards."

On Tani Oluwaseyi improving his hold up play as a striker...

"I've been very complimentary of Tani [Oluwaseyi] in that sense to him, to you guys over the course of the last month because he's really added that to his game. We're a team that we defend in a certain way in order to get up the pitch, we need whoever plays the No. 9 to show real strength, but also real quality when the ball comes into them and Tani is improving week on week in that sense. When you add that to the athlete that he is, the goal scorer that he is, the defensive forward that he is, he's becoming far more complete and I'm pleased that he's getting plaudits for both sides of his game and he's obviously a big player for us and it'll be a big loss over the course of the coming month."

On Joaquín Pereyra and Robin Lod's work in setting up the goals...

"I was really pleased for Rob [Robin Lod]. I thought first and foremost Joaquín [Pereyra] was outstanding, he had a really, really good game. He did what he typically does in terms of how he handles the ball, how he looks forward, how he's desperate to create off every opportunity, but he was also very resilient, very disciplined, very aggressive in the moments we needed him to be. He continued with what has been so far a really, really good season and a really good run of form. And then for Rob, I think I've said a couple of times here, Rob is always for us, super reliable. Rob's quiet, but he's a very good character in the sense that you know what you're going to get from Rob week-on-week, certainly defensively. He's been able to show tonight that he can, as we all know he can, he can create, he can score, and hopefully that is the start of him getting back to his creative best and I know he was frustrated with himself after the Vancouver [Whitecaps FC] game, and he put that right to life for sure."

On having multiple guys leave for international duty...

"It's tricky. It's a tricky situation for us now, given that it's international break, then it's Gold Cup and we obviously play a few decisive games in that moment, but then, I've said to the group at the end, that we have to make sure that when the group comes back together this time, we have managed to keep our place toward the top [of the Western Conference] and we've remained competitive. And then when we get those guys back, it'll be a 14, 13 game season that we can really attack, if we've managed to keep our pace, if we've managed to keep hold of one of the top positions, then it will be a really exciting finish to the year. But, we don't get to that point unless we're able to show that resilience and discipline to come away to Vancouver [Whitecaps FC] and Seattle [Sounders FC], play two very difficult away games, be on the road for five, six days and cope with everything that comes with that. The fact we've got there with four points is a phenomenal effort from all involved."

On being flat-footed the issue of the first goal...

"It's a shame, I mean the two goals that we've conceded, the first goal is not a goal that we concede anymore. We're typically very good in those situations on both fronts, we defend the space in-behind well, we defend cutbacks well. We rarely find ourselves in a position where we're that open and exposed, so that's a frustrating one. And then the second one, almost inexplicable, and I feel for Nico [Nicolás Romero] because he's such a likeable character. I think everyone thanked him at the end for making it a far more interesting, intense game than it needed to be. But he was such a good influence on the team throughout, he was calm, really composed, does what he does around the box in terms of his sort of raw defensive attributes. It's very unlike him to find himself in that position where he gets his feet in a bit of a tangle and isn't clean on a clearance because if there's one thing he does really well, it's that. So, I'm glad we didn't suffer when it came to the result as a consequence of that, because he wouldn't have deserved that. He's been top for us since he's been here and certainly over the course of this trip."

On what he will do with his off days...

"I'm on my own because my family is back home, so I will avoid staying in the house for four days on my own, and I will go and see a part of the country I haven't seen before probably."

FORWARD TANI OLUWASEYI

On finally obtaining a victory in Seattle...

"It feels good. I think it's been a long time coming. If you look back to last year, the game we played here [Lumen Field], I think if a couple of things had gone differently, we could've come with a win there. So to come here, especially after going to Vancouver first and then coming here, and to overall leave this whole trip with four points, I think the guys are really excited. The guys are really happy, and it's perfect that it comes right before we have a bit of a break. I think it'll give us a little boost going into the break and when we get back."

On what was going through his mind postgame...

"'Oh, thank God the game was over.' I was just really tired, honestly, trying to catch my breath and kind of relish the moment a little bit. I'm trying to do a better job of enjoying good things when they happen. So, a mixture of tiredness and gratefulness, for sure."

On the play-making skills from Joaquín Pereyra and Robin Lod...

"I mean, they're both very capable of something special at any moment. It's always good to see them when they get going, when they get flowing. And I think when they're at their best, we're at our best. Games like this are where you can really see their quality, and we're really lucky to have both of them."

On Tani's hold-up plays...

"To be fair, I'd probably give myself a five out of ten today. There were still some [opportunities] where I think I could have done a better job, but I think the first goal comes from that hold-up play. No game is going to be perfect, so I just have to take the good ones, wash away the bad ones, and look at what I can do better."

On if the five out of 10 performance included his brace...

"Not the [overall] performance, just on my hold-up play. Five out of ten."

On if the players mentioned the drought in Seattle amongst themselves...

"Honestly, I think we have a lot of different guys who haven't been here for the extent of the so-called drought. So going into the game, I don't think it was in the back of anyone's mind. I think at the end of the game, it felt a little bit sweeter because we broke that drought. But in general, the guys didn't really care going into the game. And I think you could see that in the way we played, we didn't show them [Seattle Sounders] too much respect, and we came out with the win."

On leaving to play for Canada during a strong time for Minnesota United...

"I mean, it sucks to leave the guys. I love playing with this team. I love being around the guys. But any opportunity I get to represent my country, I'm really grateful for that too. So it's definitely bittersweet, but I'm looking forward to go with my national team. And the guys who are here, for however long it is [that I'm gone], we have a really deep squad, I think they're going to hold it down for sure."

On Robin Lod's turn for the first goal...

"I've played with Rob [Robin Lod] long enough to know that the turn was coming, so I was waiting for it to happen. He had a similar one actually last year for an assist for me too. So once I see him in those positions, I'm kind of on my toes, waiting for him to make his move, and it worked out perfectly. It was cool. I mean, he's Robin Lod. You know, I don't got to say too much.

On if scoring a bicycle kick would make this the perfect game...

"It would definitely be up there. It's one of those where you kind of just send it and hope for the best. I'll go watch it back to see how far off it was, but you know, great things don't happen if you don't try."

On how he is looking at the Gold Cup...

"I think it's a big opportunity for me. The biggest thing is, you know, we're building up to a World Cup next year, so it's just an opportunity for me, whatever minutes I'm given and whoever I'm playing with, to give my all out there, leave everything on the field, and not have any regrets. I think I've made a lot of strides from when I first started with Canada to now, and I just want to show what I'm capable of and, most importantly, help Canada bring some silverware home."

DEFENDER MICHAEL BOXALL

On the team getting their first win in Seattle...

"I thought it'd feel better. I mean, it's just another three points at the end of the day. I think it feels better getting three [points] after a tough performance in the midweek [game]. Just getting three and making sure we're keeping pace with the teams at the top is most important for us."

On if the winless drought was on his mind leading into the game...

"No. I mean, I don't go into these games with results from 2018 or 2020 on my mind. Every day is a fresh day, a fresh opportunity to keep building on what we're doing with [Head Coach] Eric [Ramsay]. Maybe I'm delusional going into every game thinking that we've always got a chance. Happy with the three points."

On rating the defensive performance against Seattle...

"I always kind of judge it on the chances where we need Dayne [St. Clair] to bail us out. I've got a bad memory, but not too many come to mind. So I think when you've got Tani [Oluwaseyi] doing his job almost 60 yards from the other goal, and just how we continue to make things compact and difficult and then you've got the midfield there, who works so hard; I think that's kind of our benchmark. And then the two goals we conceded were... I don't know. The first one, we could do better right from the kickoff, and then, obviously, Nico [Nicolás Romero] just gets super unlucky with that second one and gave everyone a really low heart rate for the last fifteen or twenty minutes of that game."

On Robin Lod creating as many goals as last season...

"I think you can see it, but he's such a good, honest guy that whatever role he's been asked to do, he just gets on with it. I'm sure he'd rather be replicating how we started last year stats wise, but we know we've got players whose contributions aren't always going to show up statistically, and we still respect the effort. For example, Dayne [St. Clair] has a bunch of clean sheets, but Tani [Oluwaseyi] and the front guys are working their asses off to help that out. It's not just Dayne. It's not just me, Nico [Nicolás Romero], Carlos [Harvey], and Jeff [Jefferson Diaz]. It's honestly a full team thing. I think, personally, he might like to get a lot more chances and be creative in the top third because that's where his quality is, as we saw today. But he's just gotten on with the job. He's a selfless guy, and we know that when he does get those opportunities in the final third, he's going to make the right decision."

On a short flight to Canada for international break with New Zealand versus traveling across the world...

"It is nice. I mean, typically it's a twenty-plus hour flight or something [to New Zealand], so this is going to be nice. It's just two hours to Toronto. It's good, it's great. I'm sure Eric [Ramsay] and the team are happy that I'm not flying as far either, and that I won't have any canceled flights or miss a day when I come back."

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