By Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA – In a battle between the top two teams in the Western Conference, the storied Seattle Sounders were able to pull away in the final 30 minutes of the match against the upstart St. Louis City SC. A heated battle in the initial 60 minutes of the match, both clubs experienced a handful of near misses on goal before young midfielder Josh Atencio bashed the door down. Atencio blasted a screamer of a goal past Roman Bürki in net for St. Louis, and the Sounders were able to play add on as Raul Ruidiaz found the back of the net just six minutes later. Seattle, with the three points today, moves one point ahead of St. Louis for the top spot in MLS’ Western Conference.
Seattle’s Josh Atencio celebrates his goal in the 66th minute to give his club the lead (Photo by Paul Kahl)
Near chances and close misses
Both teams, from the minute that this match kicked off, were gunning away at each other and nearly found the back of the net. This was highlighted early on by a St. Louis cross into the box in the 16th minute that Joao Klauss almost snuck by Sounders keeper Stefan Frei, but Frei was up to the task to disrupt the shot just enough for it to careen away from the net. Both clubs, leading the Western Conference in goals scored at 15 each, came in looking to do some early damage to the opponent, but neither were able to find success in the first half. The defensive prowess of St. Louis and Seattle showed through from most of this match, until the young midfielder Josh Atencio decided that he had enough and needed this result to change.
Atencio annihilates late goal to open the flood gates
Midfielder Josh Atencio has been one of the younger talents in the Sounders organization that hasn’t been able to burst onto the scene just yet. Danny Leyva has drawn notable minutes, Reed Baker-Whiting of late has been able to get some notice, and we all remember Obed Vargas stamping his name on the early season for last year’s Sounders club. Atencio has been inserted into the lineup for his own fair share of opportunities, he just hasn’t been able to make the most of them and leave a real impact out on the pitch quite yet.
With this match all knotted up in a scoreless battle heading into the 65th minute, the Sounders buildup was driven through the Roldan brothers (Cristian then Alex, respectively) to Nico Lodeiro. Lodeiro sent a rolling ball away from a clump of players (Eight St. Louis players in the general vicinity) to Atencio, who took a few steps back and blasted the ball on a rope. The ball ripped through the air and past St. Louis keeper Roman Bürki, who hardly even moved as he simply didn’t have a chance on the shot. Atencio’s goal seemed to wake up Seattle, who scored two goals after his to put the finishing touches on a statement victory against the hot new team in the league.
Sounders midfielder let’s a shot rip against St. Louis (Photo by Paul Kahl)
Check out photographer Paul Kahl’s complete match album here
