Seattle Sounders stay unbeaten with road win over LA Galaxy

Goals on each side of half-time helped the Seattle Sounders remain the only undefeated team in Major League Soccer's Western Conference with their 2-1 win over the LA Galaxyon Saturday night in Carson, Calif.

Yeimar Gomez Andrade tied the score at 1 late in the first half and Raul Ruidiaz scored what proved to be the winning goal early in the second half, then Seattle bunkered in defensively to keep the Galaxy from an equalizer.

The Galaxy took the lead in the 21st minute when Sounders midfielder Joao Paulo was whistled for pushing Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez in the back in the penalty area, giving the Galaxy a penalty kick. Sacha Kljestan stepped up to the spot and delivered.

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But they could not hold if before half-time. Gomez Andrade headed in a Paulo corner kick in the 41st minute, with the Sounders able to get one past this season's most tested MLS goalkeeper, Jonathan Bond.

Bond had five saves to give him 45 on the season.

Hernandez just missed a chance at a 2-1 lead for the Galaxy in the 43rd minute. His attempt to put in a pass off a good run from teammate Julian Araujo missed off the post at close range, directly in front of the club's end-zone section of rabid supporters.

The Sounders got their first lead in the 49th minute. Ruidiaz, Seattle's goals leader this season, tied Hernandez for the MLS goals lead with his seventh. It came off a rebound of a shot in traffic in front of the net.

The road win for Seattle spoiled the largest crowd at a Galaxy match since the start of the pandemic, as Dignity Health Sports Park welcomed back full capacity at 23,165 spectators.

It had been three weeks since the teams played a match, due to national team play around the world. Seattle is unbeaten through nine games of a season for the first time in its history, and the Sounders joined FC Dallas from 2015 as the only MLS teams to go unbeaten in nine games to start a season since that year.