Sounders win, knock Whitecaps out of playoff race
Published 1:30 am Sunday, October 2, 2016
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Brad Evans scored on a penalty kick in the 81st minute and the Seattle Sounders beat the Vancouver Whitecaps 2-1 in Major League Soccer action Sunday night in a game both teams finished with 10 players.
The Sounders (13-13-5) have won four straight and are fifth in the Western Conference in the race for six playoff spots. The Whitecaps (9-15-8) were eliminated from playoff contention.
Evans earned the penalty when his cross struck sliding Vancouver defender Jordan Harvey’s arm in the Whitecaps’ box. Evans buried his shot into the middle of the net past goalkeeper David Ousted.
Pedro Morales scored on a penalty kick for Vancouver (9-15-8) in the 25th minute, and Osvaldo Alonso tied the game for Seattle in the 39th.
Morales was ejected by referee Ricardo Salazar in the 53rd minute for an elbow to the head/throat area of Sounders midfielder Cristian Roldan. Evans was sent off in the 84th minute for what appeared to be an attempted head-butt on Whitecaps defender David Edgar.
The Sounders announced prior to Sunday’s game that five of their players have been called in for national team play this month.
The group includes forward Jordan Morris (United States), midfielder Nicolás Lodeiro (Uruguay), and defenders Joevin Jones (Trinidad and Tobago), Oniel Fisher (Jamaica) and Damion Lowe (Jamaica).
