Quakes bounced from U.S. Open

Bingham’s diving saves not enough

TUKWILA, Wash. — David Bingham was asked to do a lot Tuesday night, but winning a penalty shootout proved to be too much to ask of the San Jose keeper, as the Earthquakes lost the tiebreaker 4-1 to the Seattle Sounders FC in the fifth round of the U.S. Open Cup at Starfire Sports Complex after battling to a 1-1 draw following a full 120 minutes.

The Earthquakes bow out of the tournament while the Sounders host the Portland Timbers in the quarterfinals.

Bingham, who made nine saves, was unable to stop a penalty shot including Lamar Neagle’s, which ended the shootout early. Khari Stephenson was the lone Earthquakes player to finish a penalty.

“He hasn’t played a lot for us, but I thought he had a fantastic performance,” Earthquakes coach Mark Watson said of Bingham. “He’ll come off disappointed because of the loss in penalty kicks, but he was so important in terms of us even getting to penalty kicks. He made some really big saves on a few occasions.”

Bingham, who started for regular Jon Busch, made a bevy of tremendous diving saves and was aided by the post on multiple occasions. The Sounders kept steady pressure on Bingham throughout, and substitute Chad Barrett nearly netted the game-winner three times in the final 15 minutes of regulation, but Bingham was able to make a pair of acrobatic saves and watched another chance ring off the post.

Steven Lenhart put the Quakes up 1-0 in the 24th minute after trapping a long kick from Bingham with his chest and volleying a rocket inside the right post. It is the first goal for Lenhart this season, as the forward missed time with a knee injury.

The Earthquakes couldn’t hold the early lead as the Sounders equalized two minutes later.

“It’s unfortunate that games go to PKs, but it is what it is,” Bingham said. “Our team absolutely worked its butts off tonight and played a complete 120 minutes and had a great effort. Unfortunately, tonight it just didn’t go our way at the end.”