Morris makes history in Sounders’ victory

CITY, Kan., March 26, (AP): Jordan Morris became the first Sounder to score four goals in a match and Seattle snapped a five-match losing streak on the road with a 4-1 victory over Sporting Kansas City on Saturday night.

Morris is just the third player in MLS history to score four goals in an away match. Morris is the first to accomplish the feat since Clint Mathis scored five times for the New York/New Jersey MetroStars in a 2000 match in Dallas.

Morris, who leads the league with seven goals this season, took a pass from Léo Chú and scored in the 23rd minute after William Agada staked Sporting KC (0-3-2) to a 1-0 lead with a goal in the fifth minute.

Morris gave Seattle (3-1-1) the lead in the 54th minute, scoring with assists from Chú and João Paulo. He polished off a hat trick when he took a pass from Nicolás Lodeiro and scored in the 69th minute. Chú picked up his third assist and Albert Rusnák his first on Morris’ final netter of the night - in the 77th minute.

Seattle outshot Sporting KC 13-7 with a 7-3 advantage in shots on goal.

Stefan Frei finished with two saves for the Sounders who had a 0-9-1 record in its previous 10 road matches.

John Pulskamp had three saves for Sporting KC, which entered play with a 5-2-0 record against Seattle since the start of the 2019 season.

Seattle stays on the road to play the LA Galaxy on Saturday. Sporting KC travels to play the Philadelphia Union on Saturday.

Brandon Vazquez scored three minutes into the second half and FC Cincinnati held on for a 1-0 victory over Nashville SC.

Cincinnati (3-0-2) notched its first victory over Nashville (2-2-1) in its fifth try and is unbeaten in its last nine regular-season road matches, posting a 3-0-6 mark.

SOCCER

Nashville entered play 5-1-1 in its previous seven home matches, outscoring opponents 17-4.

Nashville had a 17-15 advantage in shots, but Cincinnati had a 7-3 edge in shots on goal.

Roman Celentano made three saves to earn the clean sheet for Cincinnati. Joe Willis stopped six shots for Nashville.

Cincinnati rallied from a two-goal deficit to earn a 3-3 draw with the Chicago Fire last week. Cincinnati was previously 0-49-0 when trailing by multiple goals.

No team has gone 10 matches on the road without a loss since a 10-match run by the Portland Timbers (2012-13).

Cincinnati returns home to host Inter Miami on Saturday. Nashville hits the road to play Orlando City on Saturday.

João Klauss scored a pair of goals and Saint. Louis City extended its winning streak to five straight matches to start the season with a 4-0 victory over Real Salt Lake .

Only two other MLS teams claimed 15 points in their first five games, the Galaxy in 1996 and Sporting Kansas City in 2012.

St. Louis had already set the record for the best start for an expansion team when it won its fourth last weekend, surpassing the Seattle Sounders in 2009.

Salt Lake (1-3-0) won its season opener against Vancouver, but then dropped consecutive games against Seattle and Austin.

Nicholas Gioacchini, who St. Louis acquired in the expansion draft from Orlando, scored just two minutes into the second half off Eduard Lowen’s corner kick.

Klauss, a Brazilian, added goals in the 61st and 66th minutes. He has five goals so far this season. Rasmus Alm added the final goal in the 76th minute.

Only three other expansion teams have won at RSL: Toronto (2007), Atlanta (2017) and LAFC (2018).

Amine Bassi scored on a penalty kick for the second straight week to lead the Houston Dynamo to a 1-0 victory over New York City FC.

Bassi was awarded the kick after a video review in the 55th minute. Bassi scored from the same spot in a 2-0 home win over Austin for the Dynamo’s first victory of the season. Houston (2-2-0) had gone 85 matches since posting back-to-back victories.

NYCFC (2-2-1) was coming off two straight wins at home to match the second-best start in club history. NYCFC had 10 points through four matches in 2018.

It was the first meeting between the teams since a 3-2 home win by NYCFC in 2019. Houston improved to 2-2-2 in the series.

Houston had a 9-5 advantage in shots and a 2-1 edge in shots on goal.

The Dynamo’s Steve Clark and NYCFC’s Luis Barraza both finished with one save.