Paul Rothrock scored his second goal of the season in the first half, leading the Seattle Sounders to a 1-0 win over the San Jose Earthquakes on Sunday.
Andrew Thomas made seven saves, marking Seattle’s third clean sheet in MLS this season (3-1-0, 9 points). This victory was Seattle’s second straight win on the road in MLS and their third consecutive win in all competitions.
Rothrock’s goal was the first one conceded by San Jose (3-1-0, 9 points), which was looking to join LAFC and Vancouver as the only teams with a perfect record after four games.
San Jose outshot Seattle 24-7 overall and had more shots on target, 8-4, but suffered defeat in Timo Werner’s first start after joining from RB Leipzig and Tottenham.
Rothrock also found the net late on Thursday in Seattle’s 3-0 win over Vancouver in the first leg of the CONCACAF Champions Cup Round of 16.
Just three days later, he scored the breakthrough goal in the 20th minute.
Jesus Ferreira set up the goal with a perfectly timed pass from the center circle, getting Rothrock behind the San Jose defense.
Rothrock controlled the ball and scored with a strike past the advancing goalkeeper, Daniel, into the far left corner.
Preston Judd had two opportunities to equalize for San Jose in the second half.
Thomas stopped Judd’s first chance in the 61st minute. Then in the 74th, he deflected Judd’s shot, and defender Antino Lopez cleared the ball off the line.
In the 83rd minute, Thomas made a good save to push Niko Tsakiris’ attempt over the crossbar.
Cody Baker thought he had scored for Seattle in the 86th minute with a shot into the bottom right corner from outside the penalty area.
However, after a review, the goal was disallowed because Albert Rusnak was deemed offside and interfered with Daniel’s view.