FRISCO, TEXAS – Seattle Sounders FC notched its sixth shutout of the season Wednesday and combined it with Fredy Montero’s second and third goals.
The result was a 2-0 win over FC Dallas, and a growing trail of gaudy statistics to accompany the club’s 7-1-1 record.
The victory pushed the Sounders’ unbeaten streak to six games, their winning streak to a franchise-record five games, their road unbeaten streak to eight games, their shutout streak to 271 minutes, and goalkeeper Bryan Meredith’s personal shutout streak to 225 minutes.
“I thought our team responded well,” coach Sigi Schmid said. “I thought we defended well, which we’ve done all season. I thought Jeff Parke was superb. I thought Meredith came up with a big save at a big time for us, and then obviously Montero finished two good goals.”
Meredith made five saves to keep his MLS sheet clean through three appearances and two starts. Two of his saves came in a quick sequence in the 39th minute, when he acrobatically knocked a Scott Sealy header into the crossbar and then snuffed Sealy’s close-range follow.
“Mentally it’s a little easier to stay tuned into the game than when you’re not getting a lot of saves on your side,” Meredith said.
However, a zero stubbornly remained on the Sounders’ side of the FC Dallas Stadium scoreboard, too, until Montero uncorked a pair of goals less than three minutes apart.
The first came in the 68th minute, when 19-year-old Cordell Cato – in his MLS debut – passed a ball from the wing back to Montero in the penalty area. Two Dallas defenders converged, but Montero worked the ball past them and into a one-on-one showdown with Dallas goalkeeper Kevin Hartman. Montero won, beating the veteran keeper to the near side.
Montero struck again in the 71st minute. This time the play began with Andy Rose finding Alex Caskey streaking down the left side of the penalty area. Caskey sent a pass to the front of the goal mouth. It was deflected along the way, but Montero dived and got his head to the ball, again sending it past Hartman.
“I tried to score before, but you never can understand soccer,” Montero said. “Now, I’m scoring goals. I want to keep doing this. I’m really happy. So I will work hard like I did this week, and we’ll see what happens this season.”
Meredith started for the second time in place of the injured Michael Gspurning.
Parke was a late sub for Patrick Ianni, who was scratched due to lower-back pain during warm-ups.
Video, more quotes and information on the game are available at blog.thenewstribune.com/soccer.
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