Sounders' own goal leads to tie with Charlotte

SEATTLE (AP) — Seattle's Jordan Morris scored two goals on Saturday night to tie a franchise a record before an own goal in stoppage time helped FC Charlotte play the Sounders to a 2-2 tie in the season opener for both teams at a rain-soaked Lumen Field.

After two errant touches by the Sounders, Idan Toklomati played a low entry from the right side that was deflected at the near post by Seattle's Yéimar Gomez Andrade and darted between goalkeeper Stefan Frei's legs into the net in the third minute of stoppage time.

Kristijan Kahlina had six saves for Charlotte.

Seattle had 58% possession and outshot Charlotte 18-7, 8-1 on target.

Adilson Malanda, a 23-year-old in his fourth season with Charlotte, scored his second career goal in the 35th to make it 1-1. The 6-foot-1 defender went up high and headed home a corner kick played in by Pep Biel. Malanda’s first MLS goal opened the club’s account in the 2024 opener, a 1-0 win over New York City FC almost a year ago.

Morris perfectly time his run onto a low entry played by Georgi Minoungou for a volley that bounced off the ground into the top-net to give Seattle a 1-0 lead in the 19th minute.

Albert Rusnák, on the counter-attack, played a through ball to Morris, who slipped behind the defense and, as goalkeeper Kahlina charged off his line, scored a first-touch goal from the top of the penalty area to give Seattle a 2-1 lead in the 49th minute.

Morris has 68 career regular season goals with the Sounders, three shy of Raúl Ruidíaz’s club record set from 2018-24. The duo is tied for franchise lead with 86 goals across all competitions. Morris’ 10 multi-goal games in the regular season are tied with Clint Dempsey for second most in Sounders history (Ruidíaz, 12).

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