Sporting Kansas City edges the Sounders, 3-2

Published 1:30 am Monday, May 27, 2019

Associated Press

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Johnny Russell had a hat trick and Sporting Kansas City beat the Seattle Sounders 3-2 in Major League Soccer action Sunday to snap a seven-game winless streak.

Seattle (7-2-5) saw its six-game unbeaten streak come to an end.

Russell opened the scoring in the 29th minute. Nicolas Hasler took the ball away from Seattle’s Handwalla Bwana near midfield and led Yohan Croizet with a low pass to the right corner. Croizet won a battle with the Sounders’ Kim Kee-Hee and fed Russell for the finish from the top of the box.

Russell added his second goal just seconds into first-half stoppage time. He weaved his way through three Seattle defenders and side-netted a left-footer to make it 2-0.

Seattle got on the board in the 63rd minute. Kelvin Leerdam stopped, turned 360 degrees to avoid a defender and raced to the corner of the 6-yard box, where defender Kelyn Rowe and goalkeeper Tim Melia converged on him. Leerdam tapped the ball to Raul Ruidiaz who scored into an empty net.

Russell completed his hat track in the 68th minute, scoring from the top of the box off a pass from Rowe.

Leerdam headed home a corner kick by Nicolas Lodeiro in the 71st minute to cap the scoring.

Sporting Kansas City (3-4-5) won for the first time since March 30.