SEATTLE -- The Seattle Sounders never quite found the finishing touch in their Saturday evening matchup with the Colorado Rapids, eventually falling 1-0 to their Western Conference foes at CenturyLink Field.
Seattle outshot the Rapids 17-9 and controlled possession for large portions of the evening, but would be undone by a tally from Colorado defender Axel Sjoberg conceded on the stroke of halftime that sealed the tough home defeat.
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The Sounders had a look at taking the early lead in the 8th minute when Clint Dempsey managed to find himself alone in the Colorado penalty box after receiving a feed from midfielder Osvaldo Alonso. But Rapids goalkeeper Zac MacMath got a hand to Dempsey’s shot to deflect away what would have been the game-opening goal.
Sounders midfielder Erik Friberg almost set up another tally just minutes later after he sprung himself free in the Colorado box and lofted a cross that found the foot of Andreas Ivanschitz. But the Austrian midfielder couldn’t quite control his volley attempt, which sailed just over the crossbar.
Seattle would pay for the missed opportunities just before the halftime whistle, when Sjoberg slipped free on a corner kick and headed his attempt past Sounders’ keeper Stefan Frei, giving the Rapids an improbable 1-0 halftime lead.
The Rapids came within inches of making it 2-0 in the 59th minute after Luis Solignac found himself with a virtually uncontested look on goal. But Sologinac put his attempt just wide and bounced it off the post, keeping the contest a 1-0 affair.
Seattle had a golden look at an equalizer in the 70th minute after an Ivanschitz corner kick found the head of Dempsey, who put his headed attempt on target. But former Sounder Marc Burch thwarted the chance, clearing it off the line to allow Colorado to preserve the lead.
Dempsey denied as the post man keeps his header out and off the line. #SEAvCOLhttps://t.co/xRveXLShgY
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) May 22, 2016
The Sounders also had a pair of tantalizingly close opportunities in the second half courtesy of Dempsey and Jordan Morris-fueled counter-attacks that ended with Morris taking shots on the Colorado goal. However, neither would find the back of the net and the 1-0 scoreline would hold as the final.
With the loss the Sounders drop to 4-6-1 on the season ahead of their upcoming three-game road trip, which begins next Saturday against the New England Revolution.
