{"id":315323,"date":"2025-10-19T06:14:22","date_gmt":"2025-10-19T06:14:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/315323\/"},"modified":"2025-10-19T06:14:22","modified_gmt":"2025-10-19T06:14:22","slug":"recap-sounders-finish-regular-season-on-a-high-note-late-goal-earns-team-decision-day-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/315323\/","title":{"rendered":"RECAP: Sounders finish regular season on a high note, late goal earns team Decision Day win"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Seattle Sounders defeated New York City FC 2-1 on MLS Decision Day on Saturday evening at Citi Field in Queens, N.Y. Jordan Morris<\/a> and Jackson Ragen<\/a> scored for Seattle while Nicol\u00e1s Fern\u00e1ndez tallied for the hosts.<\/p>\n

After a chess match of an opening 20 minutes, the Sounders were dealt a blow when Pedro de la Vega was carted off the pitch with an injury following a challenge with Tayvon Gray.<\/p>\n

The Sounders thought they had won a penalty in the 25th minute when Morris appeared to have been taken down in the box on a tackle by Thiago Martins, but after initially pointing to the spot, referee Chris Penso went to Video Review and called it off.<\/p>\n

Stefan Frei<\/a> was called upon for the first time in the first minute of first-half stoppage time and came up with a massive one-handed save on a strike from Justin Haak from the top of the box. Haak pinged a shot off a deflection that was headed to the near corner, but Frei stuck out a big left hand to keep the score level.<\/p>\n

The Sounders had a solid opportunity in the 58th minute when Kalani Kossi-Rienzi<\/a> took a first-time effort from the right side of the box that forced goalkeeper Matt Freese into a difficult save.<\/p>\n

Seattle found the breakthrough in the 61st minute off a set piece delivery from Albert Rusn\u00e1k<\/a>. The Slovakian whipped in a beautiful cross to the six-yard box for Morris, who timed his jump well to redirect the ball past a diving Freese.<\/p>\n

New York City had a few half-chances in quick succession in the 67th to 69th minutes on shots from distance that were right at Frei.<\/p>\n

Jes\u00fas Ferreira<\/a> was played in behind in the 70th minute after a beautiful through ball from Rusn\u00e1k, but Ferreira\u2019s shot from the right side of the box was hit low right at Freese.<\/p>\n

In the 76th minute, Alonso Mart\u00ednez took a cross down in the box and turned to fire a shot, but his effort was denied by a key block from Ragen.<\/p>\n

NYCFC equalized in the 82nd minute after a Sounders turnover in midfield led to an NYCFC counterattack. The ball ultimately fell to the feet of Fern\u00e1ndez, whose shot was deflected by Nouhou<\/a> and redirected past Frei.<\/p>\n

The Sounders needed just five minutes to regain their lead when Danny Leyva<\/a> crossed in an excellent corner kick, and the hulking center back Ragen rose for an uncontested header that he sent to the far post.<\/p>\n

The Sounders, who were playing in the only interconference matchup on Decision Day, end their regular season fifth in the Western Conference with 55 points from 34 matches (15-9-10).<\/p>\n

Morris back on the score sheet<\/strong><\/p>\n

Morris recorded his first goal since July 12 and first in seven matches since returning from injury on Sept. 13. The Sounders\u2019 all-time leading goalscorer has five tallies and two assists in fewer than 800 minutes this season.<\/p>\n

Playing again at center back alongside Ragen rather than in his normal right fullback role, Alex Roldan<\/a> was brilliant in defense. He exited in the 55th minute for Jon Bell<\/a> having kept NYCFC off the score sheet and bereft of any real goalscoring threats. Roldan\u2019s counterpart Ragen then found the crucial match-winner in the 87th minute.<\/p>\n

Following the Sounders Decision Day win, the team will now shift their focus to postseason. While the team is locked in at the No. 5 spot in the Western Conference, their first round opponent (No. 4 seed) will not be determined until after tonight’s remaining matches. The Rave Green have the potential to face LAFC, San Diego FC, or Minnesota United.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Seattle Sounders defeated New York City FC 2-1 on MLS Decision Day on Saturday evening at Citi…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":315324,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[1444,5229,158518,158519,15277,49873,405,403,50,5226,5225,5228,5227,158517,36219,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-315323","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-1444","9":"tag-america","10":"tag-jackson-ragen","11":"tag-jordan-morris","12":"tag-match-recap","13":"tag-mls-regular-season","14":"tag-new-york","15":"tag-new-york-city","16":"tag-news","17":"tag-newyork","18":"tag-newyorkcity","19":"tag-ny","20":"tag-nyc","21":"tag-nycvssea-10-18-2025","22":"tag-seattle-sounders-fc","23":"tag-united-states","24":"tag-united-states-of-america","25":"tag-unitedstates","26":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","27":"tag-us","28":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115399365205651811","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=315323"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315323\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/315324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=315323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=315323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=315323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}