Jesus Ferreira’s goal guides Sounders past San Diego FC

Jesus Ferreira scored his first goal of the MLS season as the Seattle Sounders remained undefeated at home with a 1-0 victory against expansion San Diego FC on Wednesday night.

Goalkeeper Stefan Frei made seven saves for the Sounders (7-4-5, 26 points), who improved to 6-1-2 since a 3-0 loss at San Diego on April 5. Seattle is 5-0-2 at home.

SDFC (8-5-3, 27 points) took their first loss in six May matches (4-1-1).

Ferreira, a U.S. international acquired in an offseason trade with FC Dallas, tallied in the 58th minute as Pedro de la Vega was getting ready to replace him.

Seattle defender Alex Roldan sent a long pass down the right wing for Paul Rothrock, who found Ferreira about 12 yards away from the goal. Ferreira took the pass, spun to create some space against a defender and put a left-footed shot just out of the reach of goalkeeper CJ dos Santos and into the lower left corner of the net.

The Sounders nearly doubled their advantage a minute later, but dos Santos made a diving one-handed save on a 20-yard shot by Albert Rusnak.

San Diego outshot the Sounders 8-1 in a scoreless first half, with Frei forced to make four saves.

Frei’s best stop before the intermission came in the 44th minute, a diving, one-handed save on a 15-yard shot by Alex Mighten. Defender Nouhou Tolo cleared the rebound with a bicycle kick.

SDFC’s best chance in the second half came in the 66th minute when Milan Iloski’s 20-yard shot deflected off rookie defender Stuart Hawkins, forcing Frei to make a kick save while diving in the opposite direction.

The Sounders nearly opened the scoring in the third minute after dos Santos tracked down a loose ball on the right edge of the penalty area but cleared it right to Roldan. The veteran defender attempted to curl a 25-yard shot past the goalie from along the sideline, but dos Santos scrambled back toward the net and made a diving save to knock the ball out of bounds.

–Field Level Media