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MLS Seattle Sounders FC

Stoppage Time Strike from Kelvin Leerdam Gives Seattle 1-0 Cascadia Cup Win over Vancouver

June 30, 2019 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
Seattle Sounders FC News Release


Seattle Sounders FC's Kelvin Leerdam scored the lone goal of the match in the 96th minute
Seattle Sounders FC's Kelvin Leerdam scored the lone goal of the match in the 96th minute
(Seattle Sounders FC, Credit: Lindsey Wasson / Sounders FC)

SEATTLE, WASH. - A Kelvin Leerdam goal in the deepest portion of second-half stoppage time secured three points at home for Seattle Sounders FC (8-4-5, 29 points) against Cascadia rival Vancouver Whitecaps FC (4-7-8, 20 points) in front of a raucous crowd of 44,489 fans inside CenturyLink Field. Leerdam's fifth goal of the season came in the 96th minute of the match, providing three critical points for the Rave Green in both the Western Conference and Cascadia Cup standings. In the latter, Seattle is level with Vancouver with four points apiece, but ahead of its Canadian counterpart via the first tiebreaker of head-to-head points. The Rave Green's next Cascadia Cup match is at home against the Portland Timbers on July 21. Meanwhile in the West, Sounders FC maintains its hold on third place, three points ahead of FC Dallas and two points behind second-place LA Galaxy.

Of note prior to tonight's match, the Rave Green honored the career of Chad Marshall, who announced his retirement from professional soccer last month. Marshall hangs up his cleats as the only player in league history to be named MLS Defender of the Year three times. He ranks fourth overall and second among field players in league history with 409 appearances, 404 starts and 35,843 minutes played. He served an integral role in securing Sounders FC's 2014 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, 2014 Supporters' Shield and 2016 MLS Cup titles, finishing his career with seven major trophies from his time in Seattle and a decade in Ohio with Columbus Crew SC.

Midfielder Danny Leyva made his first career MLS start on Saturday night, slotting in at central midfield alongside Gustav Svensson. At 16 years and 55 days old, he became the third-youngest player to start an MLS match, after becoming the third-youngest in league history to appear in a match on June 5 at Montreal, trailing Freddy Adu and Alfonso Davies in both categories. Leyva nearly secured the go-ahead goal in the 60th minute, chipping a loose ball past the Vancouver defense, only for the goal to be disallowed via video review after a foul was ruled to have been committed on the play against Vancouver goalkeeper Zac MacMath.

Despite the adversity of seeing Leyva's goal disallowed, it was Seattle that had the last laugh, as Leerdam combined with Brad Smith on a give-and-go inside Vancouver's area, allowing the Dutchman to finish cleanly at MacMath's far post. The strike in second-half stoppage time was Leerdam's fifth of the season, which ranks second on the club behind only Raúl Ruidíaz's six goals. Four of Leerdam's five goals have come in front of the home crowd at CenturyLink Field.

Sounders FC now embarks on a two-match road trip beginning on Wednesday, July 3 at New York City FC (4:00 p.m. PT / JOEtv, YouTube TV, 950 KJR AM, El Rey 1360 AM). The club then travels to Columbus to take on Crew SC on Saturday, July 6 (4:30 p.m. PT / JOEtv, YouTube TV, 950 KJR AM, El Rey 1360 AM).

MATCH NOTES

With tonight's result, Sounders FC is third in the Western Conference with 29 points (8-4-5), two points shy of second-place LA Galaxy and eight points behind Supporters' Shield-leading LAFC.

Seattle is now 67-50-33 all-time against Vancouver dating back to the clubs' NASL origins, and 1-0-1 against Whitecaps FC this season after playing to a scoreless draw on March 30 at BC Place.

Sounders FC stretched its home unbeaten streak to 12 games (10-0-2) dating back to September 29 of last season. The streak is the third-longest in club history and just two shy of the franchise record of 14 set in 2013 (10-0-4).

With the win, Sounders FC vaults to the top of the standings for the 2019 Cascadia Cup. Seattle is level with Vancouver with four points apiece, but holds the first tiebreaker on head-to-head points. The Rave Green's next Cascadia Cup match is at home against the Portland Timbers on July 21.

Leerdam's goal in second-half stoppage time was his fifth of the season, which ranks second on the club behind only Raúl Ruidíaz's six tallies. Four of Leerdam's five goals have come in front of the home crowd at CenturyLink Field.

Smith's assist was his fifth of the season and fourth at CenturyLink Field. He ranks second on the club behind only Nico Lodeiro, who is tied for fourth in MLS with eight assists. Smith is tied for second among all MLS defenders with his five assists.

Stefan Frei made five saves to record his sixth shutout of the season and 72nd clean-sheet of his career, which ranks seventh all time in league history.

Danny Leyva became the third-youngest player in league history to start a match. At 16 years and 55 days old, he trails only Freddy Adu and Alphonso Davies. In Montreal earlier this month, Leyva made his MLS debut as a substitute in the 82nd minute, becoming the third-youngest player in league history to appear in a match. At the time of that appearance he was 16 years and 31 days, trailing only Adu (14 years, 306 days) and Davies (15 years, 257 days).

After rejoining the club in May, Joevin Jones made his first start for the Rave Green since coming back to Seattle.

Justin Dhillon made his Sounders FC debut up front after being officially acquired on Friday. After signing with Tacoma Defiance on March 15, Dhillon started 10 of his 14 USL appearances, leading the club with six goals this season (including a five-match scoring streak from May 12-June 8). The 24-year-old made history on May 18 by scoring just nine seconds into a 1-1 draw with Reno 1868 FC, marking the fastest goal in USL Championship history. MATCH SUMMARY

Seattle Sounders FC 1 - Vancouver Whitecaps FC 0

Saturday, June 29, 2019

Venue: CenturyLink Field

Referee: Alan Kelly

Assistants: Jeremy Kiso, Mike Rottersman

Fourth Official: Elton Garcia

VAR: Edvin Jurisevic

Attendance: 44,489

Weather: 71 degrees and partly sunny

SCORING SUMMARY

SEA - Kelvin Leerdam (Brad Smith) 90'+6'

MISCONDUCT SUMMARY

VAN - Yordy Reyna (caution) 66'

VAN - Lucas Venuto (caution) 90'+2'

LINEUPS & STATS

Seattle Sounders FC - Stefan Frei - captain; Kelvin Leerdam, Saad Abdul-Salaam, Kim Kee-hee, Brad Smith; Danny Leyva, Gustav Svensson, Henry Wingo (Handwalla Bwana 80'), Harry Shipp, Joevin Jones (Nouhou 86'); Justin Dhillon (Alfonso Ocampo-Chavez 90')

Substitutes not used: Bryan Meredith, Jonathan Campbell, Alex Roldan, Jordy Delem

Total shots: 24 (Shipp, 5)

Shots on goal: 8 (Jones, 3)

Fouls: 9 (Dhillon, 4)

Offside: 2 (Dhillon, 2)

Corner-kicks: 10 (Jones, 5)

Saves: 5 (Frei, 5)

Vancouver Whitecaps FC - Zac MacMath; Andy Rose, Erik Godoy, Jake Nerwinski, Ali Adnan; Inbeom Hwang, Jon Eric - captain, Felipe Martins, Yordy Reyna, Victor "PC" Giro (Lucas Venuto 70'); Fredy Montero (Theo Bair 90')

Substitutes not used: Sean Melvin, Scott Sutter, Brendan McDonough, Brett Levis, Michael Baldisimo

Total shots: 12 (Reyna, 4)

Shots on goal: 5 (Montero/Reyna, 2)

Fouls: 9 (Godoy, 3)

Offside: 0

Corner-kicks: 2 (Montero, 2)

Saves: 7 (MacMath, 7)

POST-MATCH AUDIO

Post-match soundbytes from Sounders FC Head Coach Brian Schmetzer, defender Kelvin Leerdam and midfielders Danny Leyva and Henry Wingo are available for download via the following link: http://sndrs.com/audio.

Check out the Seattle Sounders FC Statistics




Images from this story

Seattle Sounders FC's Kelvin Leerdam scored the lone goal of the match in the 96th minute
Seattle Sounders FC's Kelvin Leerdam scored the lone goal of the match in the 96th minute
(Lindsey Wasson / Sounders FC)		   



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