Steven Lenhart did it again. The San Jose Earthquakes forward scored a stoppage-time goal, this time giving his team a 2-1 win over the Seattle Sounders on Saturday.
The Sounders had equalized just a minute earlier on a Fredy Montero header that seemed to salvage a point for the visitors, who started a reserve heavy lineup following their penalty-shootout loss in the U.S. Open Cup final on Wednesday.
Lenhart also figured in the Earthquakes' first goal when Simon Dawkins finally broke the deadlock in the 71st minute when he was able to settle a ball and beat Sounders goalkeeper Michael Gspurning to the near post. Lenhart had made the play possible by winning a header off a throw-in and hitting it out to Dawkins, who had found some space near the top of the penalty area.
Although the match was relatively even on the whole, Dawkins' goal came at the end of a roughly 10-minute sequence in which the Earthquakes were dominating the ball and creating tons of pressure. It also came just a couple minutes after Lenhart had been whistled for diving in the penalty area after it appeared his feet got tangled with Sounders defender Marc Burch. In the teams' first league meeting, Lenhart had drawn what turned out to be a decisive penalty against Burch.
The Sounders will undoubtedly be kicking themselves after this one, and not just because of Lenhart's winner. Sammy Ochoa had nearly given them leads at two different times, hitting the crossbar twice. His first, off a clever Christian Tiffert header across the goal mouth, was a bicycle kick that hit the crossbar squarely in the 32nd minute.
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