The Houston Dynamo defeated the Seattle Sounders 2-1 at PNC Stadium in Houston, Texas, on Saturday night.
The Dynamo opened the scoring in the 14th minute when Maxi Urruti scored a volley off a free kick by Darwin Quintero.
Houston doubled its lead six minutes later when Quintero put on an individual show and fired home with his left foot.
The Sounders halved the deficit in the 41st minute when Jimmy Medranda scored a screamer of a goal off a ball deflected out after a corner kick. Medranda’s fourth tally of the season sent the Sounders into the locker room down 2-1.
Five minutes into the second half, Quintero nearly scored another beauty when his overhead kick hit the post.
Cristian Roldan had a chance to equalize in the 64th minute, but his one-timed shot from 15 yards out went over the bar.
Urruti thought he had scored his second in the 67th minute when his curling effort hit the post, one of four times Houston rattled the woodwork on Saturday night.
The crossbar came to Houston’s rescue in the third minute of stoppage time, though, when João Paulo’s free kick hit the underside of the bar and bounced out.
THREE TAKEAWAYS
Another Medranda banger
Medranda only scores golazos, and he bagged another one on Saturday to give the Sounders some life heading into halftime.
Four-match winning streak snapped
The Sounders entered on a four-match winning streak, but saw that come to an end at PNC Stadium. The loss was just Seattle’s third in 14 road matches this season.
Big week upcoming
The Sounders will battle the third- and second-place teams in the Western Conference in the next week, as they take on the Colorado Rapids and Sporting Kansas City, respectively. Seattle will travel to altitude to take on the Rapids on Wednesday (6 p.m. PT; FOX 13+, Prime Video, 950 KJR AM, El Rey 1360 AM) before hosting SKC on Saturday (12:30 p.m. PT; Univision, Twitter, FOX 13+, Prime Video, 950 KJR AM, El Rey 1360 AM | TICKETS).
