Alex Roldan scored the clincher in a penalty-kick shootout as the Seattle Sounders defeated the visiting Houston Dynamo after a scoreless draw Monday night in the opener of their best-of-three Western Conference quarterfinal playoff series.
The fourth-seeded Sounders made all five of their penalty attempts against Houston goalkeeper Steve Clark. Raul Ruidiaz chipped the ball down the middle, Albert Rusnak put a shot into the lower left corner, Jackson Ragen went upper left and Cristian Roldan and Alex Roldan both put the ball into the upper right corner.
Fifth-seeded Houston’s Ezequiel Ponce, Griffin Dorsey and Sebastian Kowalczyk converted their penalties before Erik Sviatchenko pulled his shot wide of the left post. Daniel Steres converted the Dynamo’s last penalty before Alex Roldan got the winner.
Seattle’s Stefan Frei didn’t have to make a save in regulation in posting his 14th career postseason shutout, second in league history to Kevin Hartman’s 15.
Perhaps it should’ve come as no surprise that the two stingiest defensive clubs in the conference were unable to find a goal through 90 minutes. Seattle outshot Houston 20-7, with the Sounders putting three on target while the Dynamo failed to get any on frame.
The match featured a pair of highly impactful video reviews.
Referee Ted Unkel awarded the Sounders a penalty kick in the eighth of 12 minutes of second-half stoppage time as Cristian Roldan’s header glanced off the arm of Dynamo defender Micael. After a review, it was determined the ball went off Silva’s chest and not his arm, and the penalty was waved off.
Houston midfielder Adalberto “Coco” Carrasquilla, named last week as the 2023-24 CONCACAF men’s player of the year, received a red card for a skirmish midway through the second half, when he put his hands to the face of Seattle’s Rusnak and Georgi Minoungou after knocking Ragen to the turf.
Unkel initially issued the Panamanian a yellow card, but after a review, it was changed to a red. That left the Dynamo short-handed for the rest of the match and will cause Carrasquilla to miss Game 2 of the series Sunday afternoon in Houston.
–Field Level Media