SEATTLE - San Jose's Chris Wondolowski scored the only goal of the match in the 24th minute on a converted penalty kick. Seattle's Chris Burch swung his right arm at Steven Lenhart's back as he moved past him in the box. The pesky forward immediately went down.
Seattle keeper Michael Gspurning and a kneeling Steven Lenhart
Jane Gershovich
Referee Mark Kadlecik deemed it a foul and pointed to the penalty spot. Wondolowski buried the shot past a sprawling Michael Gspurning. It was the fourth tally of the year for the San Jose forward.
"It was my fault, 100 percent," Burch said. "I went up for a header and he gave me a little elbow in the back so when he (Lenhart) tried to run around to the far post I just tried to jump in his path and he sold it pretty well."
"I didn't think, from my angle, that it was necessarily a PK," Sounders head coach Sigi Schmid said. "I thought it was sort of what they say in basketball when you initiate the contact kind of thing."
The Earthquakes (3-1-0) win over the Sounders (2-1-0) was a chippy and gritty affair. A Seattle crowd of 38,301 watched the head official issue six cautions, three to each side.
San Jose Earthquakes head coach Frank Yallop praised Lenhart's tenacity and disruptive play after the match. "All of our players play with aggression and patience that I ask them to do… but he's a fair player," Yallop said. "He doesn't foul people and goes for the ball."
Both stoppers made several outstanding saves throughout the match to keep it close. Gspurning used a one-handed highlight reel stop in the 17th minute with Lenhart parked at his doorstep.
Jon Busch countered with his own reaction save in the 84th minute. "(Fredy) Montero brought it down and tried to bring it to my right and I was able to get a hand on it and push it away," Busch said.
The San Jose's keeper faced a total of 18 shots to earn his third shutout in four games. "With these boys in front of me, nothing surprises me," he said. "These guys are tremendous. We have so much depth on this team now."
Two key players from each team needed to be replaced as a result of injuries. Seattle's Jhon Kennedy Hurtado was substituted out at the beginning of the second half with a pelvic injury. San Jose captain Ramiro Corrales didn't make it out for the second 45 minutes of play after suffering a leg injury on a hard tackle in the first half.
The Sounders next play at DC United on April in their first away game of the year. San Jose hosts the Vancouver Whitecaps on the same day.
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