A Fredy Montero second-half brace fueled Sounders FC (7-1-1, 22 points) to a 2-0 win over FC Dallas (3-5-3, 12 points) Wednesday night at FC Dallas Stadium. Bryan Meredith picked up his second shutout in as many starts as Seattle tied a franchise record with their fifth straight win and extended its MLS-best road unbeaten streak to eight games (7-0-1).
After coming on as a halftime sub for Mauro Rosales, Montero put Seattle on the board first in the 68th minute. Cordell Cato won a ball near the corner on the right side, then played the ball to Montero in the box. Montero juked two Dallas defenders, then finished with a rocket inside the near post.
Just three minutes later in the 71st, Andy Rose led a streaking Alex Caskey down the left side, who sent a cross in traffic. The ball’s path was altered due to deflection, but Montero dove forward to head the goal past Dallas goalkeeper Kevin Hartman to complete the brace. Montero now has three goals on the season.
It was the MLS and Sounders FC debut for Cato, who came on for David Estrada in the 65th minute. The Trinidad and Tobego international picked up his first MLS point just minutes later when he assisted on the first goal. At 19 years of age, he is the youngest player to record a point for Sounders FC.
Caskey picks up his second assist on the season. The 23-year-old assisted on Zach Scott’s game-winner in a 1-0 home win over Colorado on April 14.
Meredith made five saves as he picked up his second straight clean sheet in just his second career start. In the 39th minute, Scott Sealy got off an uncontested header in the box, but Meredith leapt high and right to swat the ball away, then dove forward to smother the ball before another attempt could be made. The 22-year-old keeper is riding a 225-minute shutout streak to start his career.
The Rave Green have now tied a franchise-record with five straight wins and extended its unbeaten streak to an MLS-best six games (5-0-1).
Sounders FC overall has gone 271 minutes without conceding a goal, and now has six shutouts in nine games this season. They lead MLS with just three goals allowed and a 0.33 goals against average.
Mauro Rosales almost put Seattle up in the first half when Rose found him in the box in the 18th minute. The Argentine’s first shot was saved by a sprawling Hartman, and his put-back attempt hit the post.
Seattle is now 3-1-3 all time versus FC Dallas in MLS play and 2-0-2 at FC Dallas Stadium. Tonight’s 2-0 result marks the first time a meeting between the two sides was decided by more than one goal.
It was the 100th career MLS start for Eddie Johnson, who scored 24 goals playing for Dallas from 2001-05.
Patrick Ianni, who was part of the original starting lineup, had lower back pain during warm-ups and was replaced by Jeff Parke. Roger Levesque took Parke’s spot on the bench.
Sounders FC continues their busy May stretch when they return home to host Real Salt Lake on Saturday. The two Western Conference powers kick off at 7:00 p.m. on the Xbox Pitch at CenturyLink Field.
